Ｃｈｉｎａ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　Ｏｌｙｍｐｉｃｓ.docVIP

Ｃｈｉｎａ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　Ｏｌｙｍｐｉｃｓ 　　WHEN will China send athletes to the Olympics? When will China win the gold? When will China host the Games?” asked a magazine in an article entitled “Athletic Sports” as far back as 1908. 　　The answer to the first question finally came in 1932, when Liu Changchun participated in the Los Angeles Olympics, and the second question was answered when China came away with 15 gold medals at the 1984 Games, also in Los Angeles. The final question will be settled exactly a century after being asked, when Beijing plays host to the Olympics for the first time in 2008. 　　China’s involvement in the Olympic movement, however, can be traced all the way back to the beginning of the Games, when Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympics, wrote to Li Hongzhang, chief minister of the Qing Dynasty, in 1895 urging China to attend the first Games. The preparatory committee of the Athens Olympics also sent China an invitation on August 16 through foreign embassies, but the country was at the time being threatened both by domestic unrest and foreign invasion, and was consequently unable to attend. 　　In 1904, many Chinese newspapers and periodicals covered the third Olympic Games, and beginning in 1907, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and missionary schools in China started publicizing the Olympics. On October 24, Zhang Boling, an advocate of sports and a well-known educator, delivered a speech to the fifth school athletic meeting organized by the Tianjin YMCA urging China to intensify its preparations and to participate in the Games as soon as possible. 　　 　　Four years later, the Chinese press reported that London would host the fourth Olympics, and declared that “the Olympic Games are unparalleled in the world.” 　　 　　1932: 　　China Attends the Olympics for the First Time 　　 　　China first sent a team to the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in the United States in 1932. The three-man delegation consisted of the team head, Shen Siliang, the