Chinese Women Deliver

At the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, the Chinese women are dominating the aerials in the qualifying round.

 

On Cypress Mountain, China just about blew away the competition, showing the world what they can do.

 

Coached by Canadian Dustin Wilson, the Chinese got amazing height from their jumps and did the most intricate twists and turns, and then landing well too.

 

Li Nina is a silver medallist from Turin and hopes to jump for gold, and is currently in second. Guo Xinxin is now third, and Cheng Shuang is fourth. Xu Mengtao didn't land properly, but her good jump still got her in eighth place.

 

Their only competitor now is Alla Tsuper of Belarus.

 

This clearly shows how China is progressed so quickly in this sport and with their hard work and technique refined by a Canadian will result in standing on the podium.

 

Meanwhile all eyes were on Wang Meng in the women's 1,500m at the Pacific Coliseum -- but she ended up being disqualified in the semifinals, after falling.

 

"I don't know what happened," she recalled at the press conference afterwards. "I was not rushing. I was in a good position with one lap to go. I guess if the referee disqualifies me, there is nothing I can say."

 

Nonetheless, her compatriot Yang Zhou stepped up to the plate and skated to an Olympic record of 2:16.993, winning gold, followed by South Korea's Lee Eun-Byul and Park Seung-Hi getting silver and bronze respectively.

 

While Yang was ecstatic with her victory, she felt bad for Wang.

 

"When Wang Meng started skating she told me not to watch her. She did not want me to get nervous. But I couldn't help myself. I peeked at the screen. And when I saw her fall, my heart sank," she said at the press conference. "Then I heard the referee had disqualified her, my heart sank again."

 

However, Yang said she mentally focussed on her race and went for gold.

 

"I did say that this gold medal is something I wanted. But there is another event I want to win. Stay tuned."

 

We will.

 

Photo: Xinhua