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NEW DELHI: Inspiration-seeking Chinese shooters need look no further
than their coach Wang Yifu as they aim to convert their Asian
supremacy into a deluge of Olympic gold medals.
Wang, 48, is a sporting legend in China, not
only as the country’s most experienced Olympian with six
successive appearances between 1984 and 2004 but also for his
amazing accomplishments.
He won two Olympic golds, three silvers and one
bronze over the years, but none was more dramatic than his
second-placed finish in the 10-m Air Pistol final at Atlanta in
1996.
Preparing for his last shot, Wang suddenly found
his blood sugar levels dip and his legs began to wobble, but he
still managed to fire before collapsing to the floor unconscious.
When he came around a few minutes later watched
by his anxious wife Zhang Qiuping, a fellow shooter, Wang was told
he had finished just 0.1 point behind eventual gold medalist Roberto
di Donna of Italy.
Wang, whose two Olympic golds came 12 years
apart in Barcelona in 1992 and Athens in 2004, now returns as head
coach of the Chinese squad expected to dominate at the Beijing
Shooting Hall.
It was his enthusiasm for the sport, rather than
any thoughts of nearing Austrian sailer Hurbert Raudaschl’s record
of nine Olympic appearances, that Wang briefly toyed with the idea
of gunning for another gold in Beijing.
“I would have liked to compete as an athlete
because it is a rare chance to take part in an Olympics held in
one’s motherland,” the Chinese media quoted Wang as saying.
“But I have to keep the big picture in mind.
Training members of the Chinese team to become Olympic champions
would be a greater honor for me than earning another gold for
myself.”
China has an emotional bond with the sport for
it was shooting that gave the country its first Olympic gold medal
when Xu Haifeng won the 50-m pistol event at the 1984 Los Angeles
Games.
Wang won the bronze in the same event, but China
was unable to live up to its ambition to dominate the sport at the
Olympic level despite being unchallenged in Asia.
China won 27 of the 44 shooting golds at the
last Asian Games in Doha two years ago, but managed just four titles
in 17 events at Athens as rivals from Germany, Russia, the United
States and Australia held their own.
All that could change in Beijing with Wang’s
wards expected to garner a majority of titles in a sport where there
are no favorites and a micro-second lapse in concentration can send
a shooter packing.
Officials have dropped the men’s 10-m running
target and women’s double trap from the schedule, leaving just 15
events to be contested in Beijing.
The Chinese warmed up by winning six of the 15
golds on offer at the “Good Luck Beijing” World Cup on the
Olympic ranges in April, followed by France with three golds and
Russia with two.
Australia, Slovak Republic, Serbia and the Czech
Republic shared the remaining four titles.
“I expect China to do very well but you
can’t predict anything in shooting,” said veteran Indian coach
Sunny Thomas. “Everyone who has qualified for Beijing has a
realistic chance of winning.”
Thomas leads a nine-member Indian team that
includes the country’s first Olympic individual silver medalist,
Rajyavardhan Rathore, a double trap shooter.
Australian trap shooter Michael Diamond takes
part in his fifth Olympics, hoping to emulate his gold medal winning
feats at Atlanta and at home in Sydney.
Diamond failed to win a third successive gold at
Athens, mainly due to a miserable build-up after being charged of
assaulting his girlfriend in 2003 and police revoked his shooting
license and confiscated his shot guns.
Diamond was found not guilty, but not quickly
enough to give the champion shooter adequate time to prepare for the
Olympics.
The Australian, 36, said he was ready to battle
in Beijing.
“I have regained that fire,” he said.
“There is no use-by date which is the beauty of our sport. I love
it. There is no way I will be hanging the gun up in the near
future.”
-- AFP
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