Yang Yang: China short track needs four years to bloom

Former Olympic gold medalist Yang Yang (A) gave more credit to her successors and forsaw a bright future of the Chinese short-track team in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Changchun on Saturday.

"Most of the new generation have more talent than us. They just need time to gain experiences and more understanding of the race. I think the Chinese short-track team will regain the glory in four years," said Yang, who was attending the Changchun stop of the 2006 World Cup series here.

Yang, who won China's first Winter Olympic gold medal at the women's 1,000m race in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, heralded to build a powerhouse Chinese team during 11-year spell here in the national team.

"We had a great team in the past decade for a series of good results in the world-level competitions. Now we have an experienced coaching team, better facilities and more talented generation. I think it's just a matter of time (to regain the glory)," Yang added.

Wang Meng won the only short-track gold medal from the women's 500m at the 2006 Turin Games with her teammates are still away from grabbing any world titles.

South Korea is still the dominating power in the track as it pocketed the men's and women's 1,500m titles in style on Saturday.

"Wang Meng has potential to be better in the future. The other Chinese athletes need to work hard and work as a team to build up a strong squad to compete against opponents from South Korea, Canada and Italy," Yang said.

Source: Xinhua