China at the 2008 Summer Olympics


China was the host nation of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
China was represented by the Chinese Olympic Committee, and the team of selected athletes were officially known as Team China.
As the host country, China had a total of 639 athletes qualified for places on the national team, being the largest in its Olympic history. Chinese athletes qualified to compete in all 28 Olympic sports for the first time. Among these athletes, 469 had competed at their first Olympics, 165 in Athens 2004, and 37 in Sydney 2000. Diver Guo Jingjing, shooter Tan Zongliang and basketballer Li Nan, made their fourth Olympic appearances, having first competed in Atlanta 1996. China also included 460 officials, making a total of 1,099 delegates. According to Olympic protocol, China entered as the last nation into the Beijing National Stadium during the opening ceremony, and was led by basketballer Yao Ming and Lin Hao, a 9-year-old primary school student who had rescued two schoolmates during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
China dominated the rankings for the first time with 51 gold medals. In 2009, Team China won the Laureus World Sports Awards for the Best Team of the Year. The team excluded athletes from the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, which competed separately as Hong Kong, China.

Medalists

China won a total of 100 medals, 51 gold, 21 silver, and 28 bronze, which became its largest ever medal tally in Olympic history. On August 17, 2008, China achieved its greatest ever Olympic performance when the women's table tennis team defeated Singapore in the final to claim the nation's 33rd gold medal, surpassing the previous best tally of 32 at Athens 2004.
MedalNameSportEventDate
Pang WeiShootingMen's 10 m air pistol
Guo WenjunShootingWomen's 10 m air pistol
Guo Jingjing
Wu Minxia		DivingWomen's 3 m synchronized springboard
Xian DongmeiJudoWomen's 52 kg
Long QingquanWeightliftingMen's 56 kg
Huo Liang
Lin Yue		DivingMen's 10 m synchronized platform
Chen YanqingWeightliftingWomen's 58 kg
Zhang XiangxiangWeightliftingMen's 62 kg
Huang Xu
Chen Yibing
Li Xiaopeng
Xiao Qin
Yang Wei
Zou Kai		GymnasticsMen's artistic team all-around
Chen Ruolin
Wang Xin		DivingWomen's 10 m synchronized platform
Zhong ManFencingMen's sabre
Liao HuiWeightliftingMen's 69 kg
Yang Yilin
Cheng Fei
Jiang Yuyuan
Deng Linlin
He Kexin
Li Shanshan		GymnasticsWomen's artistic team all-around
Chen YingShootingWomen's 25 metre pistol
Wang Feng
Qin Kai		DivingMen's 3 m synchronized springboard
Liu ZigeSwimmingWomen's 200 m butterfly
Du LiShootingWomen's 50 m rifle 3 positions
Yang WeiGymnasticsMen's artistic individual all-around
Zhang JuanjuanArcheryWomen's individual
Yang XiuliJudoWomen's 78 kg
Tong WenJudoWomen's +78 kg
Lu YongWeightliftingMen's 85 kg
Du Jing
Yu Yang		BadmintonWomen's doubles
Zhang NingBadmintonWomen's singles
Qiu JianShootingMen's 50 m rifle 3 positions
Tang Bin
Xi Aihua
Jin Ziwei
Feng Guixin		RowingWomen's quadruple sculls
Wang JiaoWrestlingWomen's freestyle 72 kg
Zou KaiGymnasticsMen's floor
Xiao QinGymnasticsMen's pommel horse
Guo Yue
Wang Nan
Zhang Yining		Table tennisWomen's team
Lin DanBadmintonMen's singles
Guo JingjingDivingWomen's 3 m springboard
Chen YibingGymnasticsMen's rings
He KexinGymnasticsWomen's uneven bars
He WennaGymnasticsWomen's trampoline
Ma Lin
Wang Hao
Wang Liqin		Table tennisMen's team
Li XiaopengGymnasticsMen's parallel bars
Zou KaiGymnasticsMen's horizontal bar
Lu ChunlongGymnasticsMen's trampoline
He ChongDivingMen's 3 m springboard
Yin JianSailingWomen's RS:X
Wu JingyuTaekwondoWomen's 49 kg
Chen RuolinDivingWomen's 10 m platform
Zhang YiningTable tennisWomen's singles
Meng Guanliang
Yang Wenjun		Canoeing – FlatwaterMen's C-2 500 m
Ma LinTable tennisMen's singles
Zou ShimingBoxingLight flyweight
Zhang XiaopingBoxingLight heavyweight
Zhang LinSwimmingMen's 400 m freestyle
Zhang Juanjuan
Chen Ling
Guo Dan		ArcheryWomen's team
Zhu QinanShootingMen's 10 m air rifle
Tan ZongliangShootingMen's 50 m pistol
Chang YongxiangWrestlingMen's Greco-Roman 74 kg
Li HongliWeightliftingMen's 77 kg
Jiao LiuyangSwimmingWomen's 200 m butterfly
Yang Yu
Zhu Qianwei
Tan Miao
Pang Jiaying
Tang Jingzhi		SwimmingWomen's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay
Bao Yingying
Huang Haiyang
Ni Hong
Tan Xue		FencingWomen's team sabre
Xie XingfangBadmintonWomen's singles
Wu You
Gao Yulan		RowingWomen's coxless pair
Xu LiWrestlingWomen's freestyle 55 kg
Cai Yun
Fu Haifeng		BadmintonMen's doubles
Yang WeiGymnasticsMen's rings
Tian Jia
Wang Jie		Beach volleyballWomen's tournament
Wang NanTable tennisWomen's singles
China women's national field hockey team
Field hockeyWomen's tournament
Wang HaoTable tennisMen's singles
Zhou LüxinDivingMen's 10 m platform
Cai Tongtong
Chou Tao
Lü Yuanyang
Sui Jianshuang
Sun Dan
Zhang Shuo		GymnasticsWomen's rhythmic team all-around
Zhang ZhileiBoxingSuper heavyweight
Zhang WenxiuAthleticsWomen's hammer throw
Xue Haifeng
Jiang Lin
Li Wenquan		ArcheryMen's team
Xu YanJudoWomen's 57 kg
Hu BinyuanShootingMen's Double trap
Pang JiayingSwimmingWomen's 200 m freestyle
Yang YilinGymnasticsWomen's artistic individual all-around
Zhang Yawen
Wei Yili		BadmintonWomen's doubles
Chen JinBadmintonMen's singles
Zhao Jing
Sun Ye
Zhou Yafei
Pang Jiaying
Xu Tianlongzi		SwimmingWomen's 4 × 100 m medley relay
Zhou ChunxiuAthleticsWomen's marathon
Yan Zi
Zheng Jie		TennisWomen's doubles
He Hanbin
Yu Yang		BadmintonMixed doubles
Cheng FeiGymnasticsWomen's vault
Wu MinxiaDivingWomen's 3 m springboard
Yang YilinGymnasticsWomen's uneven bars
Xu LijiaSailingWomen's Laser Radial class
Cheng FeiGymnasticsWomen's balance beam
Guo ShuangCyclingWomen's sprint
Dong DongGymnasticsMen's trampoline
Qin KaiDivingMen's 3 m springboard
Xue Chen
Zhang Xi		Beach volleyballWomen's tournament
Wang XinDivingWomen's 10 m platform
Zhu GuoTaekwondoMen's 80 kg
Guo YueTable tennisWomen's singles
Hanati SilamuBoxingWelterweight
China women's national volleyball teamVolleyballWomen's tournament
Gu Beibei
Huang Xuechen
Jiang Tingting
Jiang Wenwen
Liu Ou
Luo Xi
Sun Qiuting
Wang Na
Zhang Xiaohuan		Synchronized swimmingWomen's team
Wang LiqinTable tennisMen's singles
Sheng JiangWrestlingMen's Greco-Roman 60 kg
Song AiminAthleticsWomen's discus throw
Gong LijiaoAthleticsWomen's shot put

Archery

As the host nation, China automatically received a full complement of six quota spots for the archery competitions. China's national selection competition resulted in Xue Haifeng, Jiang Lin and Li Wenquan taking the three men's spots, while Zhang Juanjuan, Chen Ling and Guo Dan earned the women's spots. Xue and Zhang were both veteran athletes from 2004 Athens, with the latter taking China's fourth silver medal in archery. On August 14, Zhang Juanjuan became the first Chinese archer to win a gold medal in the women's individual event.
;Men
;Women

Athletics

;Men
;Track & road events
;Field events
;Combined events – Decathlon
AthleteEvent100 m400 m1500 mFinalRank
Qi HaifengResult11.157.2213.401.9349.3914.6046.464.3063.094:39.32783517
Qi HaifengPoints827866692740843899797702784685783517

;Women
;Track & road events
;Field events
;Combined events – Heptathlon
AthleteEvent200 m800 mFinalRank
Liu HailiResult13.561.7712.7124.476.0841.792:18.84604120*
Liu HailiPoints1041941708936874702839604120*

* The athlete who finished in second place, Lyudmila Blonska of the Ukraine, tested positive for a banned substance. Both the A and the B tests were positive, therefore Blonska was stripped of her silver medal, and Liu Haili moved up a position.

Badminton

;Men
;Women
;Mixed

Baseball

The China national baseball team secured automatic qualification as host nation of the Olympics and makes its first appearance at the Olympics. The team's coach is American Jim Lefebvre.
A team of 24 players competed.
;Group stage
All times are China Standard Time
TeamGWLRSRAWIN%GBTiebreaker
77041221.000--
7615223.8571-
7524022.7142-
7433014.5713-
7252933.28651-0
7252920.28650-1
716950.14361-0
7161460.14360-1

Basketball

Men's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
;Quarterfinals

Women's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
;Quarterfinals
;Semifinals
;Bronze medal match

Boxing

China qualified ten boxers for the Olympic boxing tournament, far surpassing its guaranteed quota of at least six spots. The flyweight class was the only in which China did not qualify a boxer. Seven of the ten Chinese qualifiers did so at the world championships. Hu, Maimaitituersun and Zhang Xiaoping qualified at the first Asian continental qualifying tournament.

Canoeing

Slalom

Sprint

;Men
;Women
Qualification Legend: QS = Qualify to semi-final; QF = Qualify directly to final

Cycling

Road

Track

;Sprint
;Keirin
;Omnium
AthleteEventPointsLapsRank
Li YanWomen's points race6010

Mountain biking

BMX

Diving

;Men
;Women

Equestrian

Dressage

Eventing

Show jumping

Fencing

;Men
;Women

Field hockey

Men's tournament

China's men's team competed in Pool A. Sixteen players were officially enrolled in the squad. Two reserve players were also nominated to be available should a player enrolled in the official squad become injured during the tournament.
;Roster
;Group play
;11th–12th place

Women's tournament

China's women's team competed in Pool A. Sixteen players were officially enrolled in the squad. Two reserve players were also nominated to be available should a player enrolled in the official squad become injured during the tournament.
;Roster
;Group play
;Semifinal
;Gold medal match

Football

Men's tournament

A squad of 18 players, 15 of which must have been born on or after 1 January 1985, and 3 of which can be older dispensation players, was selected to represent China at the Games. A minimum of two goalkeepers had to be included in the squad.
;Roster
;Group play

Women's tournament

A squad of 18 players competed for China in the women's competition.
;Roster
;Group play
;Quarterfinals

Gymnastics

Artistic

;Men
;Team
;Individual finals
;Women
;Team
* Only two gymnasts per country may advance to a final.
;Individual finals

Rhythmic

Trampoline

Handball

Men's tournament

The men's handball team had competed for the first time at the Olympics. China was drawn in Group A with Poland, France, Croatia, Brazil and Spain.
;Roster
;Group play;Group play

Women's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
;Quarterfinal
;Classification semifinal
;5th–6th place

Judo

;Men
;Women

Modern pentathlon

Rowing

China qualified for 11 of the total 14 rowing events. Zhang Liang was disqualified from the men's single sculls after he forgot the time of his race and failed to turn to the right heat. When Liang finally arrived to take part in the single scull the competition had already finished. "I wrongly remembered my time as that of the third group, but actually it was the second group", he explained. The rules of the International Rowing Federation say if an athlete fails to attend a race he forfeits his right to compete in further races. Therefore, Zhang not only missed the single sculls but also forfeited his right to compete in the double sculls. This meant his action had also automatically disqualified his teammate Su Hui. The China Water Sports Administration appealed the decision but the plea was rejected. "This shows we still have some problems in team organization", commented Wei Di, the director of China's water sports programs.
;Men
;Women
Qualification Legend: FA=Final A ; FB=Final B ; FC=Final C ; FD=Final D ; FE=Final E ; FF=Final F ; SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage

Sailing

China has qualified for all 11 sailing events.
;Men
;Women
;Open
M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race; CAN = Race cancelled

Shooting

;Men
;Women

Softball

A squad of 15 players made up China's women's team at the Games. The team finished sixth in the group stage and did not advance to the medal matches.
All times are China Standard Time
TeamWLRSRAWIN%GBTiebreaker
705311.000--
612313.8571-
523011.7142-
341723.4294-
251023.28652-0 vs. CHN/VEN
251921.28651-1 vs. TPE/VEN
251535.28650-2 vs. CHN/TPE
16848.1436-

;Results
Group stage All times are China Standard Time

Swimming

;Men
;Women
*Participated in the heats only and received medal.

Synchronized swimming

China finished fourth at the 2007 world championships and hoped to medal in the event for the first time ever at the 2008 Summer Olympics. The Chinese were coached by Masayo Imura, the legendary Japanese synchronized swimming instructor.

Table tennis

;Men's singles
;Women's singles
;Team

Taekwondo

* After a successful appeal by the British, judges reversed the result of the match, granting Sarah Stevenson two points for a final round kick to her opponent's head which the judges had previously missed. The reversal of the decision, after video footage was considered, is thought to be a first for the sport.

Tennis

;Men
;Women

Triathlon

AthleteEventSwim Trans 1Bike Trans 2Run Total TimeRank
Wang DaqingMen's18:060:3059:150:3337:171:55:41.8746
Xing LinWomen's20:030:281:06:220:3640:052:07:34.9940
Zhang YiWomen's19:580:311:07:100:3740:212:08:37.5642

Volleyball

Beach

Indoor

China qualified a team in both the men's and the women's tournaments. The men's team won two of their five group matches, and advanced to the final round, where they lost in the quarterfinal. The women's team won three of their five group matches, and also advanced to the final round. There, they won the quarterfinal, but lost the semifinal. They managed to win their last match, thereby securing the bronze medal.

Men's tournament

;Roster
;Preliminary round
;Quarterfinal

Women's tournament

;Roster
;Preliminary round
;Quarterfinal
;Semifinal
;Bronze medal match

Water polo

China participated in both the men's and the women's tournaments. The men's team finished in 12th place, while the women's team finished in 5th place.

Men's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
All times are China Standard Time.
;Classification round
;Classification quarter-final
;Classification 11th–12th

Women's tournament

;Roster
;Group play
All times are China Standard Time.
;Quarterfinal
;Classification 5th–6th

Weightlifting

China automatically qualifies for 6 men's and 4 women's places.
;Men
;Women

Wrestling

;Men's freestyle
;Men's Greco-Roman
;Women's freestyle

Media coverage

The main rights to Olympic coverage in China are held by China Central Television. The 2008 Summer Olympics will be the first ever to be broadcast in high definition. Besides HDTV, CCTV will broadcast in digital cable TV. Live broadcasts will run on CCTV-1, CCTV-5 and CCTV-12, with re-run broadcasts on CCTV-2 and CCTV-7. CCTV.com, the only official Beijing Olympic Games mobile phone and Internet broadcast platform on the mainland and Macao, will broadcast 3,800 hours of the Olympic Games. CCTV will follow the homegrown mobile TV China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting standard. China Telecom, China Netcom and Shanghai Media Group will broadcast using Internet Protocol Television services. Radio coverage will be provided by China National Radio. China Mobile will also enable subscribers to catch live results and data.
Major Chinese Internet portals have signed coverage deals with CCTV.com to be Internet Content Services Sponsors: Sina.com, Netease.com, Tencent and Sohu.com. CCTV has joined with these online partners to run an interactive website offering streaming video broadcasts of events, which will be viewable only in China, and web profiles through which users can contact Olympic athletes. Officials expect 10m to 20m internet users to watch the Olympic Games in China via video streaming. 102m people had watched the games online in China, according to Timo Lumme, marketing director for the IOC. Phoenix TV broadcast the Opening Ceremony

Kit sponsorship

China competed in all 28 Olympic sports. US sportswear company Nike has a sponsorship deal with 22 Chinese sports associations to provide outfits for those Olympic teams at the Beijing Games. Germany's Adidas has the endorsement rights for China's volleyball and football teams while Chinese company Li-Ning is the provider of the shooting, gymnastics, diving and table tennis teams. Yonex is the main sponsor of the China Badminton Team.