China's historic road to Olympics

On Aug 7, 1984, the Chinese women's volleyball team defeated the United States in the final and won China's first volleyball gold medal in Olympics at the 23rd Los Angeles Olympic Games. [Photo/Xinhua]

During the 23rd Olympics in Los Angeles, Chinese gymnast Li Ning won 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals, thus becoming the record holder of medals in that Games. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Chinese delegation won 5 gold, 11 silver and 12 bronze medals and ranked at the 11th in the gold medal tally at he 24th Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea in 1988. Gao Min, known as the Diving Queen, won the 3m springboard diving event. [Photo/Xinhua]

Some 251 Chinese athletes took part in 20 events and were able to win 16 gold, 22 silver and 16 bronze awards at the 25th Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992, and ended the 4th in the final ranking. On August 5, Juan Antonio Samaranch, reigning president of the IOC, presented the gold medal to China's Deng Yaping for the table tennis women's singles title. Deng won all the four gold medals in women's events in both the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics. [Photo/Xinhua]

At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Chinese shooter Zhang Shan won the gold medal in the skeet shooting event, which was a huge achievement after the game had been dominated by western shooters for years. [Photo/Xinhua]