Sporting stars miss key meet
By Tan Yingzi (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-12 07:18

I was excited when I heard that the Shanghai Express, Liu Xiang, had been selected as a member of the 11th CPPCC.

Not only is the Olympic champion and world record-holding hurdler among the world's top sports stars, with his winning smile and good looks, he's also something of a celebrity across China and throughout Asia.

Joining Liu on this year's CPPCC members list is another Olympian, tennis star Yan Zi.

As two of my favorite sportspeople, I was delighted to see their names on the list, but with just 150 days to go until the Olympics, I wasn't sure if I would get to see either of them this time around.

Unfortunately, my fears were realized, when I was told shortly before the start of the conference that both had asked for a leave of absence from the meeting, due to their pressing training schedules.

It has been many years since an athlete has been represented on the CPPCC, so the news of Liu and Yan's appointments attracted a lot of attention from the media both at home and abroad.

Some CPPCC members, however, argued that due to the likelihood of them not being able to attend meetings, athletes should not be selected to serve.

Most journalists, however, myself included, believe that at least for the time being, the Olympians should be allowed time for their preparations. Once the Games are over they will have plenty of time to fulfill their duties.

Thankfully, the absence of the two stars has not killed the media's interest in the sporting delegation as a whole, which includes two vice-presidents of the Beijing Games organizing committee, several top officials of the State General Administration of Sports, national team coaches and several retired world champions.

On my first attempt to interview the sports delegation, I found the conference room was full of journalists and cameramen and I had to stand for two hours by the door.

I couldn't help but wonder what the place would have been like if Liu and Yan had been there.

A veteran journalist told me she had never seen so many sports reporters covering the two political meetings. In the past, she said, there was barely a handful.

Even when some of the national team coaches made their excuses and left to oversee training camps, enthusiasm remained high.

And despite their absence, Liu and Yan still managed to make the headlines.

On Monday in Spain, Liu took gold in the men's 60 m hurdles at the 12th World Indoor Championships, while Yan made it through to the semifinals of a ranking tournament in India and improved her world standing to No 43 in singles and No 13 in doubles, the highest of any Chinese tennis player.

Actions speak louder than words, it seems. And success at the Beijing Olympics may be the best proposal they could make to the CPPCC.

(China Daily 03/12/2008 page6)