"expectations on Liu, a Chinese sprinter of unprecedented gifts"

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp...

Ok, I guess that was proof enough for any unenlightened people that are ranting incessantly but only masquerading as informed sports fans. I still await more names from you. Certainly, the "dominant" sports power in the world would have more recognizable names than just 3, especially considering that China has roughly 1/5 of the world's population.

Here, I'll do it for you. As part of your studies why not read about Yi Jianlan, who just finished a strong rookie season in the NBA and will probably be China's 2nd NBA all-star. Also, there's Asian basketball legend Wang ZhiZhi, the first Chinese player to make the transition to NBA success and noted for his strong 3-point shooting.

This is the Los Angeles Times; this is not some opinionated crap you hear from chess sites and chess media.

Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlan are not popular than Liu Xiang, Li Ning, Guo Jingjing, Lang Ping.

I can name you four hundred millionaire $$ local athletes in the US that are big names here. They're on a million billboards and area TV commercials and are big celebrities in the regional sense. That doesn't mean that they're known international performers.

China's results bear this out - the medals lean heavily in favor of disciplines that emphasize heavy regimented practice schedules, and a militaristic approach to developing technical skill (judo, gymnastics, diving), and don't have as much dependence on a component of raw athletic ability (sprinting, basketball, decathlon etc.)

I don't necessarily consider those sports "fake" but let's be honest about the path that Chinese Olympians take:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-fg...

This article has comments by Chinese competitors on how they are compelled by the government to adhere to very rigid and controlled practice schedules, with minimal time for family matters or academics.

I'm predicting that we'll see China medal in basketball sooner or later - they've finished 8th twice - ahead of both Germany and Russia this year. Yao wasn't very healthy and the team lost to silver medalist Spain in overtime this year in a heartbreaker game that they should have won.

<PP> When you watch this, try keep your eye on the birdie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXQr...

As soon as the guardplay gets up to par the Chinese team will start to press for a medal.

China has 4 times the population of the US and has about 1/4th of the GDP of the US. That means the average person in the US is 16 times more wealthy than his Chinese counterpart...have fun making up that gap, China. If China didn't have such cheap labor, they wouldn't even have a leg to stand on, because outside of food, cheap clothing and manufactured athletes, what do they offer the world in terms of services or products? Nothing.

And also China has given your Bush Administration trillions of dollars to cover their war cost and yes in return send exports their stuff to get their money back.

Now that cheap labor is nearly gone in China...Wal-Mart and several made-in-China products will be more expensive--this is of course a backlash against Western corporation to treat Chinese as s*it.

So what? Unfortunately, not testing positive does not mean there is no doping.

That said, I have no opinion on whether Lewis ever intentionally used performance enhancing drugs.

<Apparently, the IOC accepted his explanation that the positive test came as a result of cold medications.>

Yeah.. because chess has never been intermingled with politics and between 2 superpowers(US vs Russia etc), and because we never talk politics on these forums.. -rolls eyes- :P~

<PinkPanther: You shouldn't have to compare China with countries in Africa to make it look well off. That right there shows the nature of the argument.>

The same way you have compared the U.S with China when you have also stated that China is a 'poor third world' country? It's pretty much the same thing.. talk about double standards. :p

<Just because new things are being built, doesn't really speak to the overall wealth of an average Chinese person. As I said somewhere else on this site before, the Chinese are still poorer than crap and will be for the foreseeable future. The only economic significance that country has is based on its population and not on its standard of living from person to person.>

As i've stated before, currently China cannot be compared with the U.S, or many other first world countries in many fields(gold medal count not being one of them). That is why i referred to it as still a 'third' world country, and why a few economically 'developed' cities like Shanghai, HK and Taiwan etc doesn't really make 'China' a developed country, and neither does having skyscrapers while the majority of the country lives in villages. It sort of parallels the U.S though, just that the U.S has had a big head start. Give it some time. I'm sure China will be able to keep up its current levels of infrastructural development, earthquakes and wars not withstanding.. 0_o

<China has 4 times the population of the US and has about 1/4th of the GDP of the US. That means the average person in the US is 16 times more wealthy than his Chinese counterpart...have fun making up that gap, China. If China didn't have such cheap labor, they wouldn't even have a leg to stand on, because outside of food, cheap clothing and manufactured athletes, what do they offer the world in terms of services or products? Nothing.>

Everyone has to start somewhere. They aren't a technologically developed country yet, and are still undergoing their industrial 'revolution', ie the reason why they are getting blasted by environmental activists. And FYI, China is having a ball 'making up that gap'. It will come sooner than you think, especially with the U.S wasting all it's money on unnecessary wars among many other things.. You say that China's economy will collapse, but the U.S is in the same bed as China, since they are one of the biggest recipients of Chinese goods. What's good for China also happens to be good for the U.S. Like you said, China has 4 times the population, so why wouldn't it make use of its cheap labor and focus on that for now? China is a big place, and also includes HK and Taiwan. Taiwan etc is well known for it's technological industry, and HK is also well known for it's trade and technology. Shanghai is also said to have 'overtaken' HK in terms of economy and being the centre for trade.. Honkies used to look down on Mainlanders(Shanghainese), but now the Shanghainese look down on Honkies(as the saying goes in China if i'm not mistaken).