US faces near-impossible task to catch China
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
BEIJING (Reuters): Britain notched their highest gold medal tally in a century Tuesday with two more victories in cycling and one in sailing for the 2012 Olympics hosts.
That cemented Britain's unexpected third place in China, with 15 golds the best since the 1908 London Games and the perfect way to fire up enthusiasm at home for the next Olympics.
Hosts China are way ahead on 42 golds, their seemingly unassailable lead helping dull some of the national pain over the withdrawal through injury of track idol Liu Xiang.
The US are second with 25 golds on Day 11 and face a near-impossible task to catch China, whose medal haul reflects their new global economic and political might.
While China's rise may be inevitable, given it has one fifth of the world's population to choose from, Britain's success was more surprising. Even traditional rivals were impressed.
Meanwhile ,Sergio Aguero scored two second-half goals in seven minutes Tuesday and later set up another to lead Argentina to a 3-0 win over rival Brazil and into its second straight Olympic final.
Argentina, trying to become the first nation to win consecutive titles in 40 years, will now face Nigeria in a rematch of the 1996 final in Atlanta, when the Africans won 3-2 for their first and only title.
Tuesday's victory was the first for Argentina against Brazil in three years.
Nowhere have the Britons been cockier than on bikes.
Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton won a couple more golds in the men's and women's sprints, making it a remarkable eight Beijing golds on road and track for the new cycling superpower.
In Qingdao, on China's east coast, Paul Goodison made up for disappointment in Athens, where he nearly quit, by winning the sailing Laser title.
Britain's success, which has come chiefly in cycling, rowing, sailing and swimming, is attributed mainly to heavy new investment in sport. That has allowed athletes and coaches to train full time, as well as seen improvements in facilities.
Much of the money has come from a national lottery.
"We can rule the waves again," Britain's top-selling Sun said, catching the wave of patriotism.
That cemented Britain's unexpected third place in China, with 15 golds the best since the 1908 London Games and the perfect way to fire up enthusiasm at home for the next Olympics.
Hosts China are way ahead on 42 golds, their seemingly unassailable lead helping dull some of the national pain over the withdrawal through injury of track idol Liu Xiang.
The US are second with 25 golds on Day 11 and face a near-impossible task to catch China, whose medal haul reflects their new global economic and political might.
While China's rise may be inevitable, given it has one fifth of the world's population to choose from, Britain's success was more surprising. Even traditional rivals were impressed.
Meanwhile ,Sergio Aguero scored two second-half goals in seven minutes Tuesday and later set up another to lead Argentina to a 3-0 win over rival Brazil and into its second straight Olympic final.
Argentina, trying to become the first nation to win consecutive titles in 40 years, will now face Nigeria in a rematch of the 1996 final in Atlanta, when the Africans won 3-2 for their first and only title.
Tuesday's victory was the first for Argentina against Brazil in three years.
Nowhere have the Britons been cockier than on bikes.
Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton won a couple more golds in the men's and women's sprints, making it a remarkable eight Beijing golds on road and track for the new cycling superpower.
In Qingdao, on China's east coast, Paul Goodison made up for disappointment in Athens, where he nearly quit, by winning the sailing Laser title.
Britain's success, which has come chiefly in cycling, rowing, sailing and swimming, is attributed mainly to heavy new investment in sport. That has allowed athletes and coaches to train full time, as well as seen improvements in facilities.
Much of the money has come from a national lottery.
"We can rule the waves again," Britain's top-selling Sun said, catching the wave of patriotism.