China's best Olympic hopes in London
Beijing (CNN) -- When the Olympic torch lights up in London on Friday, hundreds of millions of TV screens, laptops and mobile phones will likewise be turned on in China.
Chinese sports fans are expected to watch the world's best athletes compete for medals and fame at the 2012 Summer Games.
Hardly any Chinese expect London to be able to match the spectacular opening ceremony that Beijing choreographed four years ago.
London set for Olympic opener
"They will get the job done but it definitely won't be as good as China did," said Ling Ling, who works for CCTV, the national television network. CCTV plans extensive coverage of many events, including live broadcast of events featuring Chinese athletes.
Lab looks to catch Olympic drug cheats "The Chinese care about the scale of the ceremony," said Jiao Xueqing, a 48-year-entrepreneur in Beijing. "The British care about the spirit of the Olympics."
Chinese athletes carry the burden of their huge nation's hopes and expectations.
Who among China's superstars can excel and live up to the Olympic motto -- Faster, higher, stronger?
I consulted David Yang, a writer at Sports Illustrated China who also serves as editor of the blog site China Sports Review, and we came up with seven athletes worth watching in London.
Liu Xiang
The 29-year-old 110-meter hurdler will aim for his second Olympic gold at the London Olympics. Liu's shocking pullout from the Beijing Olympics remains one of the most memorable events of the 2008 Games. The nation watched aghast as Liu limped off the track after a false start by another runner and pulled out of the competition.
Liu later publicly apologized to the Chinese media, saying he could "do nothing but pull out of the race" because of the recurrence of a foot injury.
"Liu is just coming back from injuries and he proved he can still fly eight years after winning gold in Athens," David Yang tells me. "When I interviewed him last summer, before the World Championships, he seemed really self-confident and had gotten over the Beijing memories."
Sun Yang
Sun Yang, 20, is the lanky world champion who is leading China's 50-member swimming team to London. Sun is China's hope for a gold medal in swimming, just as Liu Xiang was in track and field eight years ago.
Li Na
Li Na, 30, is the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam singles (2011 French Open). The tenacious tennis star is idolized by millions of her compatriots, but Li's maverick streak may also be worth watching. Chinese sports officials reportedly asked Li Na to play doubles as well in London, but she balked, saying she has not played doubles in years and would rather focus on her singles event.
"London will be her last Olympics and it'd be interesting to see whether the late-bloomer can give us another surprise," Yang said.
Lin Dan
Lin Dan, 28, is perhaps the best badminton player in the world. Nicknamed "Super Dan" by his fans, Lin is a four-time world champion, five-time All England champion and the reigning Olympic champion. To defend his title, he may have to face again Lee Chong Wei, the Malaysian star who beat him earlier this year.
"To Chinese badminton fans, the Lin-Lee matchup will be the most anticipated event," said Yang.
Zhang Jike
Zhang Jike, 24, is the reigning table tennis world champion and World Cup winner in singles. Table tennis, or ping pong, no longer enjoys the attention it got 40 years ago, before China opened its door, but it is still widely considered by many in the Chinese media as "guo qiu," or the "national ball game." Millions of Chinese play and watch ping pong.
Zhang is the latest superstar coming out of China's most competitive sport. "He has won every major tournament in singles except the Olympics and Zhang's toughest rivals may be one of his teammates," Yang said.
Ren Cancan
Ren Cancan, 24, is a policewoman and top amateur boxer. Ren is a three-time world boxing champ but she may be better known lately for the controversy about her age.
Ren admitted recently that her actual birthdate is April 26,1986, making her 26, and not January 26, 1988, as had been registered with the international boxing association. The age discrepancy is unlikely to bar Ren from the London Olympics but her frank admission again puts a spotlight on cheating by some Chinese coaches and officials accused of tampering the age of athletes just to win titles and medals.
"To take her first Olympic gold, Ren needs to beat Mary Kom, the five-time world champion from India who carries the hopes of another one-billion nation," opined Yang.
Guo Ailun
Guo Ailun, only 18, is a fast-blooming point guard of the men's basketball team. Although still green and prone to turning over the ball, basketball fans and commentators hail the emergence of stars like Guo.
"He represents a new generation of players that may look less freakish than Yao Ming but could be more entertaining on the court," said Yang.
The big question... how many medals can China win?
Since China is sending a relatively "small" team to London -- nearly 400 athletes, compared to 600 in Beijing -- Team China will be hard pressed to match the 51 gold medals and 100 total medals that it hauled four years ago.
Team leader Xiao Tian acknowledges the challenge.
"We made a calculation that in the last five Olympics, the host country has a reduction of 32% of gold medals and medals in total won at the next Games," Xiao said. "We don't think we will have the same amount of medals as in Beijing. But the Chinese delegation will do its best."
With no home-court advantage, Yang said, "I think 32 golds and 95 medals should be more like it."
Given the time difference between London and Beijing, will Chinese sports fans stay up late at night to watch Olympic events?
"I hope to see the great performances by our Chinese athletes," said Xu Lin, 24, who works in a real estate company in Shandong.
Others say they will surely tune in but only selectively.
Tang Sen, a septuagenarian pensioner and a self-described qiu mi (sports fanatics) enthused: "I will stay up to watch the events I like and the athletes I admire, whether or not they win gold medals."
Taking part, after all, is more important than winning, as another Olympic motto goes.
China's best Olympic hopes in London - CNN.com
China-India Rivalry to Take Backstage at London Olympics
Jul. 27 – The nations of the world converge on Marshgate Lane, Stratford, today to begin the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Between the two rising Asian powers of China and India, there can be little doubt which country’s team will emerge with more glittering medallions. Admittedly enjoying the benefit of competing on their home turf, China garnered a total of 100 medals in Beijing 2008, of which 51 were gold. By contrast, India took home 3.
While China pours resources into creating teams across the board that can demonstrate its world power status, India has long lost its head start in the one sport in which it previously excelled: field hockey. Between 1928 and 1980 India’s field hockey team came in first place eight times. Since then, India did not receive a gold medal until 2008. They will look to repeat this success at this year’s London Olympic Games.
There is one place where the China-India rivalry will assuredly rear its head: the Men’s 10 meter Air Rifle competition. Athens 2004 gold medalist Zhu Qinan, of East China’s Zhejiang Province, was driven to tears on the podium in 2008 as he lost out to Uttarakhand’s Abhinav Bindra.
Already this year, Zhu has once again come second to Bindra in the Doha Asian Championships in shooting. Meanwhile, the rivalry has intensified due to remarks made off the shooting range.
In his book, called A Shot at History, Bindra has said that he “doesn’t like Chinese.”
Both may falter, however, as upstart Niccolo Campriani of Italy, who placed 12th in Beijing, but since won the World Shooting Championship in 2010, also eyes the top spot on the podium.
Nevertheless, this looks like one to watch as India seeks to compete with China beyond the geopolitical and economic realm.
China-India Rivalry to Take Backstage at London Olympics | News, Investment commentary and Geopolitical analysis of China, India and emerging Asia
This is definitely one to watch
