Retired Olympic and world champions paddler Deng Yaping, diver Gao Min, chess player Xie Jun and speed skater Yang Yang arrived at disaster areas to give psychological aid, especially to the quake-affected children.
“Auntie Deng, I want you to win the gold in Beijing,” yelled some of them.
With tears in her eyes, the four-time gold medalist Olympian was speechless, standing in front of the children beside their collapsed homes.
“Sports is a great thing. When people participate in sports, they can forget sadness temporarily,” Deng said to www.Chinanews.com.
The Olympic torch relay resumed after it was suspended for three days for national mourning last week.
“One Home, One Concern,” reads a homemade slogan in support of the rescue efforts in Sichuan beside the Olympic Games slogan, “One World, One Dream” at the bank of the West Lake when the torch was traveling in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province.
Banners conveying similar messages, as well as donations and tribute ceremonies accompanied the torch all the way from Longyan to Hangzhou, passing Ruijin, Jinggangshan, Nanchang, Fuzhou, Shaoxing since the quake hit until the Ningbo leg, which was postponed on May 19.
And now the Sichuan leg of the torch relay has been rescheduled to August 3-5, the last destination before it goes to Beijing and the National Stadium for the Olympic opening ceremonies.
“To win more golds will be a great inspiration for the quake-affected compatriots, and that is our only task,” said Feng Jianzhong, deputy director of the sports administration after last Monday’s national mourning.
(Email Adress of Reporter: gxm@chinadaily.com.cn)
