1. China ended its Olympic skiing gold drought on February 23 as Han Xiaopeng clinched the men's freestyle skiing aerial gold, also the country's first ever men's Winter Olympic title, in the Turin Games.

Han Xiaopeng of China celebrates during the final of the men's aerials freestyle competition at the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Sauze d’Oulx, Italy, February 23, 2006. [Reuters]

Also in Turin, Wang Meng won the women's 500m short track speed skating event and Zhang Dan/Zhang Hao jumped to global fame after Zhang Dan fell spectacularly at the finals only to fight through pain to return to the ice minutes later and take a silver medal.

2. The Chinese gymnastics team, comprised of Zhang Nan, Cheng Fei, Pang Panpan, Zhou Zhuoru and He Ning, claimed China's first ever women's team gymnastics world title in Aarhus, Denmark, on October 18.

Team China (C) celebrates their gold medal win on the podium with the silver medalists the team from the U.S. (L) and the bronze medal winners, Russia, following the women's team final at the 39th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, October 18, 2006. [Reuters]

3. Chinese Go chess players swept three world titles, with Luo Xianhe winning the Samsung Cup on January 13, Gu Li winning LG Cup on April 21 and four Chinese sweeping the top places in Chunlan Cup on September 28.

4. Olympic champion Liu Xiang shattered a 13-year-old world record held by Briton Colin Jackson as he clocked 12.88 seconds in the Lausanne Grand Prix on July 11.

Liu Xiang of China celebrates setting a new world record in the men's 110-metre race at the IAAF Super Grand Prix athletics meeting in Lausanne July 11, 2006. Liu won the race in a world record time of 12.88 seconds. [Reuters]

5. China topped the Asian Games medal standings for the seventh straight time after sweeping 165 gold medals in the Doha Games held from December 1-15.

6. Zheng Jie and Yan Zi claimed China's first Grand Slam title as they won the Wimbledon women's doubles final on January 27. They went on to win the Australian Open women's doubles on July 10.

7. China swept the men's and women's crowns in the world team table tennis championships held in Bremen, Germany, from April 24 to May 1.

8. World Cup and Olympic champion China suffered a waterloo defeat in the women's world volleyball championship which ended in Japan on November 16, placing fifth after losing to Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil and eventual champion Russia.

9. China's General Administration of Sport announced the results of a national fitness survey on September 18, which shows China's population is fitter than it was five years ago but expanding waistlines was a growing problem.

10. Anti-doping officials unearthed 450 doses of EPO, testosterone and steroids during a raid on an Anshan athletics school's training camp on August 8. The headmaster of the northeastern Chinese school was suspended and the school was banned from the Liaoning provincial games.