| Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 14, 2001 |
"Bicycle Kingdom" Looks Forward to Olympic Honor |
China, known as "the bicycle kingdom" with the largest cycling population in the world, is in thirst of an Olympic cycling title.
China is hopeful to win its first Olympic cycling gold medal at the 2004 Games in Athens, a Chinese sports official said.
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China is hopeful to win its first Olympic cycling gold medal at the 2004 Games in Athens, a Chinese sports official said in Guangzhou on Wednesday.
Three female Chinese cyclists had clocked below 35 seconds in 500-meter time trial event at the National Games here, which means that they could be ranked among the world's best, according to Tian Junrong, an official of the State General Administration of Sports who is in charge of the sport.
China, known as "the bicycle kingdom" with the largest cycling population in the world, is in thirst of an Olympic cycling title.Cycling As A Means of Transportation Rather Than Sports "Cycling as a sport has developed in Europe for more than a century, and it's also popular in America," Tian said.
In China, however, it has mostly been taken an affordable means of transportation rather than a sport. "Restrained both by financial and human resources, the sport was not carried out in China until a couple of decades ago," said Tian.
China's cycling medal draught at Olympic Games was first quenched by Jiang Cuihua from Liaoning, who won a bronze in women' s 500m time trial in last year's Sydney Games. The medal was hailed by the Chinese media "as precious as a gold."More Focus on Women's Short-Distance In recent years, Tian said, the Chinese sports authorities has increased its support to sport, with focus on women's short- distance events.
"This measure is being rewarded, not only by Jiang's Olympic medal, but also by Chinese cyclists' progress in other events, such as women's pursuits and point race," Tian said.
More than 300 cyclists of 23 delegations across China, including those from the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, are competing for the 18 gold medals at the current national games.
And the national and Asian record-setting performance during the first three days here boosted Tian's confidence.
Acknowledging the domination by Europeans, Americans and Australians, Tian said Chinese cyclists need to improve their training, particular in such field of starting. "Meanwhile, we have to promote our scientific research in the field." New National Records in Past Days As a pre-games favorite, Jiang finished second in the women's 500m time trial on Monday, in a time of 34.776 seconds. Jiang Yonghua from Beijing won the gold medal in 34.751 seconds. Both bettering the national record of 34.768 held by Jiang.
"It was my personal best, but Jiang Yonghua rode even better," said the 27-year-old Olympic medalist.
What she cares about the most, she said, is that the sport of cycling "will get more popular in China. China should not only be a country with the world's largest number of bicycles but also be a cycling power."
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