The fainting of a hostess during a medal ceremony on Thursday has aroused the public's attention.

The young woman, named He Junwei, is a student from the Southern Medical University. She fainted while holding a tray of 12 silver medals to be bestowed upon the second-place finishers in the women's 1,000m dragon boat race.

China won the gold medal and Indonesia won the silver in the race held in Zengcheng, a satellite city of Guangzhou.

"It was really a pity," He said. "My fainting made the service imperfect."

Though very tired, she said she would continue the work until the end of the Asian Games.

She said she suffers hypoglycemia and that hunger, the high temperature and a long wait to present the medals combined to cause her fainting.

She had breakfast at about 6:20 that morning and did not have time for lunch before the ceremony.

"I felt the tray become increasingly heavy and I began to tremble and then went into spasms before I felt dizzy and passed out."

The incident happened at 1:12 pm on Thursday. She knelt down and fainted and the medals fell on to the ground.

Some of the Indonesian dragon boat racers, together with volunteers, helped her up and sent her for a medical checkup.

China Daily