OLYMPICS/ Spotlight
Rowing pair buoyed by world-beater status
By Yu Yilei (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-09-07 14:02
Fresh from their rowing world championships victory last week in Munich, China's Tian Liang and Li Qin are heading into next year's Beijing Olympics as strong gold-medal contenders.
The fast-improving pair, who have dominated the women's double sculls so far this season with two World Cup titles, continued their marvelous form at the Munich Worlds, leading from heat to final where they relegated three-time world champions and reigning Olympic champions Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell of New Zealand to second place.
Their three-second-plus advantage over the New Zealand siblings proved their status as the "World's Best Pair", a recognition given by FISA, the International Rowing Federation, due to their excellent teamwork and strength.
Li and Tian finished eighth last year at the World Championships and earlier this year at the first World Cup they gave the rowing world a taste of their new-found power by winning the double and finishing fourth in the women's quad.
"We felt very confident during the race. As long as we keep up with these high performances we can stay together in this double," Li, a rower from Sichuan Province, said after winning the race in Germany.
The Munich victory puts the Chinese pair a class above the legendary Kiwis and gives them a confidence boost ahead of the 2008 Games.
"We were getting closer to them in recent years and we defeated them for the first time in the World Cup earlier this year.
"We took the Munich race as a warm-up for the Beijing Olympics and the victory gave us a lot of confidence," said Tian, who hails from Liaoning.
"Now there is only one goal for us - winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing," Tian added.
The Chinese rowers stunned the world by winning three gold medals in last year's Eton World Championships. Although they did not put on an equal show with one gold and two bronzes in Munich, team leader Cao Jingwei said he was pleased with their performance this time, which ensures that 26 Chinese rowers will qualify for eight events at the Beijing Games.
"I think the competition in Beijing will be the closest ever because the advantages of those traditional strong powerhouses are shrinking. Anything is possible in Beijing," Cao said.
Chinese rowers have never tasted Olympic gold. They have two silver and two bronze medals, with the last podium finish coming at Atlanta 1996 in the women's double sculls.
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