The awards ceremony of the first Laureus China Top 10 Athletes
was held in Shanghai on Thursday evening.
The top 10 are female diver Guo Jingjing, female table tennis
players Wang Nan and Zhang Yining, female swimmer Luo Xuejuan,
female short-track speed skating athlete Yang Yang (A), men's 110m
hurdles athlete Liu Xiang, figure skating pair Shen Xue/Zhao
Hongbo, male gymnast Li Xiaopeng, men's basketball player Yao Ming,
and female volleyball player Zhao Ruirui.
All the top 10 athletes have made great contribution to China
sports in 2003.
This year, the organizers did not rank the top 10 athletes
according to their votes, which was different from the previous
activities.
The 2004 Laureus China Top 10 Athletes awards originated from
the selection of China Top 10 Athletes, which had seen 24
editions.
List of 1st Laureus China Top 10
Athletes
Following is the list of the first Laureus China Top 10 Athletes
unveiled on
Thursday:
1. Guo Jingjing, diving, defended her 3m springboard title at
the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. She also claimed
the 3m springboard title at the Busan Asian Games in 2002.
2. Wang Nan, table tennis, swept the women's singles, doubles
and mixed doubles titles at 2003 World Championships in Paris.
3. Yang Yang (A), short-track speed skating, clinched women's
500m and 3,000m relay gold medals at the 2003 World Championships.
She ended China's gold medal drought at the Salt Lake City Winter
Olympic Games in 2002 with 500m and 1,000m titles.
4. Luo Xuejuan, swimming, became the triple winner at the World
Swimming Championships in Barcelona, Spain, in July as the
19-year-old from Zhejiang
Province won in the women's 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke
and 4x100m medley relay.
5. Zhang Yining, table tennis, won women's doubles gold medal at
the 2003 World Championships in Paris in May. She also won in the
women's singles in the ITTF Pro Tour Finals in 2002.
6. Liu Xiang, athletics, the 20-year-old Asian record holder
took a medal at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics as he
raced to the third finish in the men's 110m hurdles in 13.23
seconds in Paris. He had also broken the world youth record at an
IAAF Grand Prix in July 2002.
7. Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo, pairs' figure skating, defended the
world title in pairs' figure skating in March in Washington and
they triumphed again in pairs in the ISU Grand Prix finals nine
months later with a new routine "the Nutcracker."
8. Zhao Ruirui, volleyball, was named the Top Spiker at the 2003
Women's Volleyball World Cup in November as China embraced their
first volleyball World Cup title in 17 years.
9. Li Xiaopeng, gymnastics, won the men's team, vault and
parallel bars for China at the World Gymnastics Championships in
Anaheim, the United States, in August, piling up a total of 13
world and Olympic titles to his name. His aim is to overtake Li
Ning who holds 14 world and Olympic titles as a Chinese record.
10. Yao Ming, basketball, a 23-year-old from Shanghai, clinched
a spot in the first choice team in the Houston Rockets in his
second year in NBA. The 2.26-meter center carried on the sensation
from 2002 when he was written into the history book as the first
non-American top pick in NBA's history. He became the first Asian
to be voted the Laureus World Newcomer of the Year for his amazing
debut in the top basketball league in May. He was also the Most
Valuable Player at the Asian Basketball Championship in October and
one of the China's Top 10 Youngsters.
(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2004)
