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Many more rolls of honor
China Daily
Updated: 2008-08-23 10:08
Let's listen to the joyful cheers over medal breakthroughs in Beijing Olympics as more and more countries have won medals for the first time in history, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:
The medal list is becoming longer and longer as the time passes by. As of August 19, 75 countries and regions won medals.
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Panamanian athlete Irving Saladino (C), gold medal for long jump with a mark of 8.34 metres at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, waves to the public during his welcoming ceremony in Panama City on August 21, 2008. [Agencies]
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We are glad to see the wonder of Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals at the same Olympics, but we don't want to see the dominance of medal tally by a few powerful countries.
On August 18, Irving Saladino became the national hero for Panama by winning the tiny country its first Olympic gold medal in the men's long jump. Before that, Abhinav Bindra won India's first-ever individual Olympic gold medal in the men's 10m air rifle. Jamaican sprinters have had an outstanding performance in both men's and women's 100m sprint. This island country in the Caribbean Sea broke the long-term dominance of the United States in this field.
Many other athletes have made similar breakthroughs in medal-winning in Beijing Olympics. Their victories have brought their motherlands endless joys. In the past few days, countries like Jamaica, Togo, Mongolia, Tunis and Zimbabwe had national celebrations for medals their athletes won in Beijing. Over there, the joy of winning gold far exceeds that in countries powerful in sports. Let's recall the time 24 years ago when China won the first-ever gold in the Olympics. What a happy day of joy it was! Today, this similar joy is felt in various corners of the world. In the world arena, the voice of large countries is louder than that of small ones. Thanks to the Olympic Games, any athlete from any country or region can compete in the same court under the same rules and reap the joys of victory and have their national anthems played and their national flags raised.