CHINA: Olympic gold medallists among delegates at the 17th Communist Party Congress

China's Olympic gold medallists attend the 17th Communist Party Congress. Among the 2,213 delegates at the 17th Communist Party Congress, a gathering of China's most powerful people, were some of the country's Olympic gold medallists. The seven-day Congress, the biggest political meeting in five years by the ruling party that governs more than 1.3 billion people and the world's fourth largest economy, kicked off on Monday (October 15) in the capital city of Beijing. World top-ranked table tennis players Wang Nan and Zhang Yining, who won the Olympic women's doubles gold in Athens in 2004, told reporters that they were so excited and proud to be elected as delegates. "Every Chinese has a kind of belief or faith, which gives us the biggest support psychologically. I am very honoured and proud of being a Party member. I joined the Communist Party, because we are told in our table tennis team that we should value the honour of our country above everything else. These spirits have driven every one of us to do our best to win honour for our country," said 28-year-old Wang Nan, who was also a representative to the 16th Congress five years ago. Zhang Yining, who also won the women's singles gold in Athens, said she was keen to pay back her motherland. "We grew up under the red flag. When I look back, I can see that since I started playing table tennis at the age of five, I haven't spent much money buying bats, sports shoes or clothes. Our country has been taking care of everything for us. So I owe it to my country," she said. Gao Ling, badminton mixed doubles gold medallist in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, said: "The government is paying great attention to the training and accommodation of athletes. Our living and training conditions are getting better and better. So I feel very happy to be an athlete living in this time."

ITN Source | October 20, 2007

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