福建师范大学外国语学院  2001级1班  彭玺

As curtains of the world-noticing 28th Summer Olympic Games fall, Chinese media are in heated discussion on the value of the medal reapers of the game this year. Lui Xiang who receives an ocean of praise is an eye-catching hero now in China.

China’s flying man Liu Xiang claimed the gold medal of men’s 110m hurdles on Athens Olympics Track and Field, with 12.91s world record tie performance. The world record holder of this event is the only hurdler to have beaten U.S. star Allen Johnson, who has won championships in both the Olympic Games and the world championships. It is the first gold Chinese men’s athlete has ever won from the track and field in the Olympic history. Being a legend on the hurdles circuit, this 21-year-old speedster thus soon becomes an idol of the nation. Some people value him as a more shining star than Yao Ming. He has now been deluged by invites to open this and appear at that. He has also been asked to advertise products, act in films and even record music. Besides, he has been left with little time to see his family and less to go training. “At this rate, I won’t be able to break any records or win any races,” Liu admitted recently. He says he is in danger of losing his winning momentum if the host of media events he’s been drawn into don’t calm down so he can get back to training. It might be a reason that we Chinese have longed for a long period for a fresh rain for the medal drought of the Chinese men athletes on the track, so that when this sweet rain comes people all over the country get jubilant, hugging and crying with joy on hearing the astonishing good news. Then flood of comment on this unprecedented success runs rampant.

If Liu Xiang is a so-called lucky guy, then there are many “hapless” athletes. Men gymnastic athletes, the dream team, expected to score a perfect bulls-eye, haven’t got the expected number of medals this time. Following their on-the-spot performance comes heaps of criticism in no time. They are blamed not to have finished the tasks set by their coach and the leaders and even the whole nation. It should be noticed that they are over depressed mainly because of their failure to realize the nation’s dream rather than the failure itself. Volleyball girls have suffered the similar problem, though they won. A famous net showed its comment before the final result coming out as “Chinese volleyball girls tried in vain to beat their Russian rivals and it’s a pity not to realize the 20 year’s Olympic Championship dream.” Then this net turned to hurray the success of these girls afterwards. This net is said to have paid too much attention to the result of the event.

   As a matter of fact, not only Volleyball girls and Men gymnastic athletes, but also Liu Xiang are unlucky. They shoulder abundant pressure of the nation They are even formed as the Chinese squad with other athletes. Actually, sport is sport, not a war without fume or something else. Athletes are athletes, a symbol of peace and health for people all over the world, not a gold medal hunter or a star. Sober-minded Liu Xiang knows that, and so should the coaches, leaders, fans and the nation as a whole.