China's historic road to Olympics

Chinese diver Fu Mingxia won the 10m diving on July 27, 1992, at the Barcelona Olympics at the age of 14 and became the youngest Olympic champion ever. She continued to win another three gold and one silver in the next two Games. [Photo/Xinhua]

On Sept 23, 1993, the whole nation was disappointed at the result that China lost the bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics. [Photo/Xinhua]

In 1996, the 26th Olympics were held in the US city of Atlanta. The Chinese delegation, with a total of 309 Chinese athletes, won 16 gold, 22 silver and 12 bronze, and earned the 4th ranking. On July 28, after winning the women's 5,000m, Chinese long-distance runner Wang Junxia ran around the track field with the national flag draped over her body. [Photo/Xinhua]

In 2000, the 27th Games were hold in Sydney, Australia. China was able to win 28 gold, 16 silver and 15 bronze, and ranked 3rd in the end, which was a consolation for China's failure to win the bid for the Games. Xiong Ni, a Chinese diving athlete, won the men's 3m board with a tiny advantage of 0.3 point over Russia's Dmitry Sautin. [Photo/Xinhua]

On July 13, 2001, after two rounds of voting, China won the bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics, at the 113th IOC meeting in Moscow, Russia. [Photo/Xinhua]