Nation's athletes cheered for 'high spirit' at Games

Zhao Shuai (Gold) Taekwondo: Men's 58 kg Zhao is China's first male taekwondo Olympic champion. Chinese women have won five gold medals in the past four Olympics, and the men have won two bronze medals. CHINA DAILY

On Wednesday, 21-year-old Zhao Shuai beat Thailand's Tawin Hanprab 6-4 in the men's 58kg taekwondo final, delivering the country's first men's gold medal in the sport.

"I am really excited to stand up for Chinese men in the sport for the first time to show that we can also compete and win in this event," said Zhao.

On the track and the field, Chinese athletes also put on their best performances at the Olympics by winning six medals, including two golds, to cement the country's emerging status in the Western-dominated event.

China won the fewest gold medals since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, when it won 16, and it was the first time since the 2000 Sydney Olympics that China finished third in the gold count.

The country suffered a big slump in such traditionally strong events as shooting, gymnastics and badminton－events that boosted China to 51 gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the most of any nation－due to a lack of experienced athletes and fiercer competition.

Among the setbacks this year were the Chinese gymnastics squad's zero-gold finish in Rio, the first time since 1984, and the single gold for the once title-sweeping shooting team.

At the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, the Chinese gymnastics team won a total of 14 gold medals, while its men's and women's shooters took home a combined seven gold.

At a news conference on Saturday, Sports Minister and Chinese delegation chief Liu Peng attributed the lackluster performance to a lack of experience and an underestimation of opponents' improvements.

"The good results at previous world championships and other lead-up events blocked our eyes, which affected our assessment of the progress achieved by our main rivals in these events," Liu said.

"Apparently, our relatively young team needs more high-intensity drills to grow more mature, as the lack of experience hampered the delivery of their A games in many sports."

Among the 416 Chinese athletes sent to Rio, 73 percent were competing for the first time in an Olympics.

Cao Yin contributed to this story.