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Beijing above & beyond

AFP, Beijing
China came into the Beijing Olympics with a steely determination to be crowned the world's most dominant sporting nation, and it achieved what it planned with ease.
Nothing less than being the best on home soil would satisfy nationalistic pride, and the years of training and vast sums of money pumped into erpating elite sportsmen paid dividends.
Chinese strict sports coaches are famous for stressing the importance of obedience, orderliness, respect and placing the needs of the team and country ahead of any personal desires.
But the hiring of up to 40 foreign coaches in the lead up to Beijing brought a new, more relaxed, approach, which paid off.
In the end China finished with 51 gold, 21 silver and 28 bronze to the United States' 36-38-26, although they ended behind their arch-rivals 110-100 on the overall medal tally.
The gold rush earned the hosts’ the distinction of becoming only the third country after the United States and the Soviet
Union to top the gold medal table since World War II.
What was particularly significant were the medals won in sports in which they are not traditionally strong - archery, fencing, yachting, boxing, beach volleyball and even swimming.
More predictable was their domination of diving, table ten-nis, badminton, and weightlifting.
The cards were on the table when weightlifter Chen Xiexia won their first gold of the Games way back on August 9, setting two new Olympic records on her way to the women's 48-kilogramme class title.
Endorsements and sponsorships are expected to make her a millionaire, to the chagrin of shooter Du Li who was expected to claim the mantle but caved in under the pressure.
Two years ago the Chinese government was so worried about the potential for crowd trouble tarnishing the Games that it launched a crash course in sports etiquette, or how to behave at Olympic events.
It was largely successful and the Chinese fans created an electric atmosphere, spurring their athletes to new feats.
With the early smog and pollution that blighted the Games
gradually clearing, the home nation raked up gold medals with a vengeance.
"The achievements we have made in this Olympic Games are . a very imporant driving, force for the future," said Chinese Sports Minister Liu Peng.
"But we have to be modest, and sober-minded and we have to face the difficulties and challenges in the process of future development.
"We are still lagging behind in many events or disciplines. In terms of medal count and in terms of the number of athletes who ranked in the first eight, we are still lagging behind compared with many developed countries."
Michael Phelps might have stolen the headlines in the pool, but China also made waves.
Zhang Lin stormed to the 400m freestyle silver medal while Liu Zige and Jiao Liuyang produced stunning swims to win gold and silver in the women's 200 metres butterfly, with Liu setting a new world record.
China’s weightlifters w’ere running hot with the hosts winning four men's and four women's titles.
The competition produced nine world records, three of them set by Chinese woman lifter Liu Chunhong(69kg).
Veteran Zhang Ning upset world number Xie Xingfang to successfully defend her women's badminton title, breaking down in tears afterwards, while Lin Dan won the. men's title, proclaiming-himself "an outstanding sportsman".
China muscled aside the competition to proclaim itself the new gymnastics world superpower, although the event was overshadowed by suspicions that some Chinese competitors were younger than the required 16 years old.
They snared nine of the 14gold on offer, second only to the USSR's 10 in Seoul in 1988.
Then came the shock pictures of national hero Liu Xiang pulling out of the 110m hurdles heats with a foot injury, prompting an outpouring of remorse as one of the faces of the Games failed to deliver.
But the Olympics moved on and so did China, although it saw little success on the track and field. Its consolation was that neither did the United States in one of its worst performances in years.
Ma Lin won the men’s table tennis gold medal and Zhang Yining won the women's as China's paddlers cleaned up. Their invincible divers did the same, collecting seven of the eight titles on offer.