The Olympics Blog » China

How Much Money Do Chinese Olympic Gold Medalist Make?

bill — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:17:00 +0000

Well, they receive more “reward” money than their American counterparts who get US$25,000 for a gold medal. But they don’t do as well as Thai gold medalists who are given US$314,000.

From the China Daily:

China’s gold medal winners at the Beijing Olympics will be taking home cash along with their medals, state media reported Tuesday.

Each gold medalist will get 350,000 yuan (US$51,000) each, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing Xiao Shan, the deputy head of China’s General Administration of Sports.

The prize compares to the 200,000 yuan (US$29,000) handed out to gold medal winners after the 2004 Olympic games, the report said.

The report did not say if silver and bronze medalists were also to be rewarded. Phone calls to the press office of China’s General Administration of Sports rang unanswered Tuesday.

Nike Really, Really Loves Liu Xiang

bill — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 04:36:00 +0000

Earlier, I wondered whether Liu Xiang’s withdrawal from the 110 meter hurdles competition will negatively affect his relationship with Nike. Thanks to this tip from snactres, we find out that Nike will continue to feature Liu in its ad campaign.

From CNBC:

Despite the disappointment of one of their biggest endorsers, Nike will salute hurt Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang tomorrow — instead of hoping that he’ll disappear.

This is the type of thing that makes Nike a leader in sports marketing. When the other sponsors privately cringe at the thought of one of their top guys going down, the folks at the Swoosh actually think, “How do we spend on this and turn it into a great human moment that appeals to people?”

The print ad, which will appear in The China Daily and a few local papers here in Beijing, will have Liu Xiang’s face and will contain the following copy (in Mandarin):

Love competition.
Love risking your pride.
Love winning it back.
Love giving it everything you’ve got.
Love the glory. Love the pain.
Love sport even when it breaks your heart.
Just Do It.

I believe that this is a good move on the part of Nike as there appears to be more public sympathy than public irritation/condemnation for Liu’s failure to defend his title. In fact, maybe Nike may have hit on a winning marketing formula. Who among you will agree with me that the “sympathy card” will sell more shoes than the “hero-worship” card?

Liu Xiang Quits

bill — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 06:57:00 +0000

Argh! Liu Xiang, my favorite Olympian pulled out of the 110 meter hurdles reportedly because of a “tendon injury to the right foot“. As a fan who’s been blogging about Liu and who hoped that he will get his second Olympic gold medal, his decision to quit is very disappointing.

It would have been great to see him run despite whatever injury he sustained. After all, isn’t that what the Olympics is about — overcoming all odds and that kind of stuff? But, then again, maybe its unfair to expect him to risk his health and future well-being if only because his fans want to see him running. I’m sure his other fans also have mixed feelings about this.

What would be interesting to see in the future would be the impact, if any, of Liu’s decision to quit. Will Nike, for instance, still produce its Air Liu? Or will they find someone who will be a better fit for their expensive shoes? [It's expensive not because it is expensive to produce but because of the ridiculous fees they give to the stars who wear them.]

Update: The video of Liu Xiang in the 110 meter hurdles is here.

Update II: Nike continues to feature Liu Xiang in its ad campaign, details here.

Photo source: xinhuanet

Yu Yang and Du Jing: China’s Gold Medalists #26

bill — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:37:00 +0000

China’s answer to the U.S. victories in the Olympic swimming pool on Day 7 came from weightlifting, judo, and the badminton duo of Yu Yang and Du Jing who beat South Korea’s Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Kyung-won to pocket the gold, China’s 26th overall, in women’s badminton doubles.

So what’s the gold medal race like at the end of Day 7? It’s China with 26 golds and the U.S. with 14 golds.

Photo: xinhua via beijing2008

Tong Wen Bags Gold Medal #25 for China

bill — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:25:00 +0000

Tong Wen sure deserves to be lifted by her coaches after winning the gold, China’s 25th, in women’s judo, 85 kg category.

Photo source: xinhua/beijing2008

Lu Yong: China’s Gold Medalist # 24

bill — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:11:00 +0000

Chinese athletes do rule weightlifting, no? They grabbed eight of the 11 gold medals awarded so far. Here’s China’s Lu Yong celebrating after winning gold medal number 24 for China. Lu tied with Andrei Rybakou of Belarus as both lifted 394 kilos but he was awarded the gold because he registered a lighter body weight during the weigh-in.

Armenia’s Tigran Varban Martirosyan won the bronze medal for this event (weightlifting, 85 kg category).

Photo credit: gettyimages via beijing2008

Weightlifter Cao Lei Wins Gold Number 23 for China

bill — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:53:00 +0000

China’s gold medal count remained stuck at 22 for much of Day 7 but this has now gone up to 23 following the victory of Cao Lei in women’s weightlifting (75 kg category). She bested Alla Vazhenina of Kazakhstan who got the silver and Russian Nadezda Evstyukhina who settled for the bronze.

For those of you interested in the China vs. US race for gold medals, it currently stands at: China (23 golds) vs. U.S. (14 golds).

Photo source: xinhua via beijing2008

Liu Zige Bags China’s 18th Gold Medal

bill — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:09:00 +0000

China crashed the U.S./Australia party in the swimming pool when Liu Zige won the gold medal in the women’s 200m butterfly with a world record swim of 2:04.18.

Should Americans be concerned that Chinese athletes are encroaching in their territory, the medal-rich sport of swimming? They need not worry now but they should worry in future editions of the Games.

Swimming is the main source of U.S. medals [seven of its current ten gold medals are from swimming] so it would be interesting to see what happens if China challenges the U.S. dominance of the sport.

Photo source: xinhua/beijing2008

More Olympic Medal Biting: China’s Qin Kai and Wang Feng

bill — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:38:00 +0000

Hah. Didn’t I tell you earlier that the art of medal biting lives on in the Olympics? Here’s the China’s synchronized divers Kai Qin and Wang Feng. Kai is biting his gold to test if it is authentic.

Seems like the Chinese divers are really going to win all the golds in diving, no?

Photo source: Nick Laham/Beijing2008

Olympic Gold Medal Race: China vs. the United States

bill — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:13:00 +0000

Apologies for not blogging about the most recent Olympic results particularly the one we care most about, i.e., the race for gold medals between China and the United States. I must admit to being discouraged after I discovered that my blog posts were being stolen. This sapped my enthusiasm to blog. But now that the problem is fixed [the webmaster behind the site agreed to not republish my contents after I contacted him/her and his/her host], let’s continue having fun.

At the end of Day Four of the competitions, China has 13 gold medals while the United States has seven. China appears to be on its way to bagging the number of medals that some crystal ball gazers predicted. In particular Luciano Barra predicted that China will win 38 gold medals while researchers at the Sheffield Hallam University predicted that the host nation will win 46 Olympic gold medals.

Meanwhile, Barra predicted that the United States will win 47 golds; so the Americans have to bag 40 more golds which they can very well do given that we’re still only on the fifth day of the Games. I’m not sure if the Sheffield Hallam folks made a prediction for how many medals U.S. athletes will bring home.

Anyways, as a sort of recap, here’s a listing of the gold medalist from both countries. I hoped to make individual entries for each of them but, as I said earlier, I was derailed by some baddies who, to their credit, responded favorably to my request.

Chinese Gold Medalists [end of day four]
Weightlifting
LONG Qingquan – Men’s 56kg
ZHANG Xiangxiang – Men’s 62kg
LIAO Hui – Men’s 69kg
CHEN Xiexia – Women’s 48kg
CHEN Yanqing – Women’s 58kg

Diving
Women’s Synchronised 3m Springboard
GUO Jingjing, WU Minxia

Men’s Synchronised 10m Platform
LIN Yue, HUO Liang

Women’s Synchronised 10m Platform
WANG Xin, CHEN Ruolin

Fencing
ZHONG Man – Men’s Individual Sabre

Gymnastics
Artistic Men’s Team
[CHEN Yibing, HUANG Xu, LI Xiaopeng, XIAO Qin, YANG Wei, ZOU Kai]

Judo
XIAN Dongmei – Women 52 kg

Shooting
PANG Wei – Men’s 10m Air Pistol
GUO Wenjun – Women’s 10m Air Pistol

American Gold Medalists [end of day four]
Swimming
COUGHLIN Natalie – Women’s 100m Backstroke
PHELPS Michael – Men’s 200m Freestyle
PEIRSOL Aaron – Men’s 100m Backstroke
PHELPS Michael – Men’s 400m Individual Medley
Men’s 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay
[PHELPS Michael, WEBER-GALE Garrett, JONES Cullen, LEZAK Jason, ADRIAN Nathan, WILDMAN-TOBRINER Ben, GREVERS Matt]

Fencing
ZAGUNIS Mariel – Women’s Individual Sabre

Shooting
ELLER Walton – Men’s Double Trap