The first Sino-American Water Ski Show Contest kicked off Monday in Liaocheng, the well-known water city in east China's Shandong Province.

Three-tier-pyramid, high-board jumping, barefoot skiing, water ballet, sky ski hydrofoil and multiple boat trick jump featured the show contest in the Dongchang Lake, a 5.2 square-meter moat around the central part of Liaocheng City.

Two American athletes unveiled the show contest by performing a double-barefoot skiing at the speed of 50 kilometers per hour.

Eight Chinese athletes dressed in traditional costumes, formed a three-tier-pyramid on the water surface with the dragging-force of a motorboat at a high speed.

The youngest performer in the Chinese team is only 11 years old. All the others are top water skiing athletes in China, including the Asian water ski champion and world water ski winners.

Shawn Taye Webster, 49, the eldest athlete in the US water ski show team, under the wind speed of four degree, successfully performed the sky ski hydrofoil, which weighs over twenty kilograms.

During the whole show contest, the points graded by four judges to the two show teams were very close.

However, at the end of the contest, an unexpected and dramatic scene appeared. The US team failed twice to perform the four-tier-pyramid, because the ropes were broken off from the motor boat.

Finally, the Chinese team won this show contest, but the result seemed unimportant. The audience gave their warm applause to both sides, because Chinese and American athletes coordinated to draw back the rope from the water, when the US athletes fell down into the lake due to the mistake.

The contest will conclude today.

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2006)