China’s National Games opened in the southern...
China’s National Games opened in the southern city of Canton with high hopes of world records from athletes competing for places in next year’s Olympic Games.
Zhao Ziyang, Communist Party leader, and Juan Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee, attended a colorful but rainy opening ceremony during which thousands of doves and balloons were released.
China has not yet committed to taking part in the 1988 Olympics at Seoul, South Korea, but diplomats said Samaranch’s presence in Canton and a strong hint by Sports Minister Li Menghua made it unlikely that the Chinese would join a boycott threatened by North Korea.
China’s athletes won 15 gold medals in Los Angeles in 1984, their first Olympics since the 1949 Communist revolution.
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