China retains commanding lead in Asian Games
China retains commanding lead in Asian Games
HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuter): After only two days China has already swept to a commanding lead in the Asian Games thanks to record-breaking performances by its weightlifters and swimmers.
China's women weightlifters added six more world records yesterday to the eight they set on Monday, while in the swimming pool China won all five gold medals to go with three they collected in yesterday's first day of serious competition.
The day ended with China on 20 gold medals with Japan falling behind on eight and Iran moving into third place with a single gold in karate.
The president of the International Weightlifting Federation moved swiftly to head off any accusations that drugs might be involved telling Reuters the Chinese athletes received a clean bill of health in tests two months ago and would be tested again at the end of this month.
The pocket Venus athletes won all six weightlifting gold medals, lifting nearly twice their own weight and leaving their opponents trailing by more than 10 kg (25 pounds).
Chinese weightlifting coach Tao Jiang revealed that, like athletics counterpart Ma Junren and swimming coach Chen Yunpeng -- he also has a secret herbal formula to bolster the hard work regime he imposes.
All the world record breakers so far are lifters under 20 years of old and some of them have been training since they were 12 years old.
Speaking at the Games only hours after China's lifters set their last world record, IWF president Gottfried Schodl admitted he was worried about drugs in the sport.
"I am really worried about drugs," he said.
Schodl said much of the suspicion against China was due to envy and doubted if Beijing could have developed anything which was not known to the rest of the world.
Schodl said among reasons why the Chinese have achieved spectacular success in the sport was that they had naturally well-developed calves and thighs which bear the brunt of the lift in both the snatch and the clean and jerk.
In swimming China took all five golds, two silvers and a bronze in a systematic demolition of the disheartened opposition. Only Japan, with a haul of two silvers and three bronzes, could raise a smile at the end of the day, while Thailand was ecstatic with a shock silver and South Korea was consoled with a lone bronze.
The Chinese broke Asian Games records in every race on the agenda and swimmer after swimmer made it clear that the juggernaut would not stop before the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Karate
The third full day competition also saw Iran and Syria joined the medal winning club. Rafaat Salti Krad broke the Japanese stranglehold in karate when he won a closely contested 65kg final against Arash Javanshir of Iran. Syria now have four gold medals in 40 years of Asian Games.
Maziar Farid Khomami earned a consolation gold for Iran by beating Adel al-Mejadi of Kuwait 4-3 in the 70kg final. Natalia Chikina won Kazakhstan's first Asian Games medal, a bronze, in the 10m platform.
Also yesterday, China's flamboyant coach Ma Junren arrived at the Asian Games, setting off a media frenzy around the man behind world-record performances by China's women middle distance runners.
Accompanied by cases of his secret elixir of turtle blood and other mystery ingredients, the leader of "Ma's Army" behaved in a way befitting a conquering hero.
He graciously accepted bouquets of flowers thrust into his hands through a scrimmage of journalists at Hiroshima airport but still found time to courteously escort his women runners to their seats in a bus.