China Athletics

Chinese gymnast Sang Lan was paralyzed Tuesday after damaging her spine in warm-ups for the women's vault in the Goodwill Games. "At this time, she is paralyzed and cannot move her legs and she has a minimal amount of motion in her arms," said Dr. Brock Schnebel, chief physician of the Goodwill Games. Officials said Sang, 17, injured her neck while attempting a forward vault in warm-ups and lost control in midair, striking the ground head first.

An 85-year-old woman was at home in her room on the top floor of a 43rd Street hotel early Tuesday morning when a concrete slab from an elevator scaffolding crashed through the roof and killed her. More than 24 hours later, much of Midtown remained closed to pedestrians. But while more than the usual number might have been peering toward the sky for falling objects, people were still on the streets in Manhattan, going about their business.

Chinese breaststroker Yuan Yuan, a silver medalist in the 1994 World Championships, was found Thursday carrying 13 vials labeled Somatropin, a banned human growth hormone. The discovery, made by an Australian customs official at the airport in Sydney, gave ammunition to critics who accuse the Chinese swimmers of using banned substances. Yuan, 21, and her teammates were en route to Perth for the World Swimming Championships when the vials were discovered packed in ice in her luggage.

Chinese defenseman Gong Ming, who injured her neck and back during a hockey game against Canada, was not seriously hurt but is questionable for the team's next match, the team said. Gong Ming, who turns 25 on Sunday, was chasing down a loose puck and lost her footing during the third period of China 2-0 loss to Canada on Monday. As Gong slipped, she appeared to hit the boards with her right hip and her shoulder before rolling onto her face.

British and Chinese soldiers confronted each other here Tuesday, three months before the mainland officially takes over this crown colony. But the battlefield was a rugby pitch, and the soldiers were dressed for "olive ball," as rugby is known in Chinese, not in olive drab. In an international 10-a-side tournament, the luck of the draw pitted players from Scotland's Black Watch Regiment, now stationed at Hong Kong's garrison, against the People's Liberation Army team from just across the border.

Li Ning goofed around when a photographer asked him to perform a few moves in the gym. He giggled and said his arms ached on the rings, then burst out laughing before performing a few tumbles on a nearby mat. "I'm too old for this," he joked. "Maybe I should be taking a photo with a beer." It's been 12 years since the 33-year-old Li won six gymnastics medals--three gold, two silver and a bronze--in the L.A. Olympics. He quit competing eight years ago, which may explain why he's a bit rusty.

Memo to NBC: In case you missed it--and, certainly, millions of American TV viewers have--a nifty little Olympic soccer tournament comes to a close here tonight at Sanford Stadium. Memo II to NBC: Almost forgot--the Americans will play for the gold medal. Memo III: American women! While NBC's cameras have been following every hop, skip and Yurchenko performed on the women's gymnastics podium--they even devoted prime time to Dominique Moceanu and Kerri Strug dancing to "YMCA"--the U.S.

China's top sports official has hinted that Beijing may boycott the Atlanta Olympic Games if the United States allows high-ranking Taiwanese officials to attend the event, Japan's Kyodo news service said.

"The round ball's done some good things for Joe," says veteran basketball coach Joe Weakley, summing up his career. He built his Crenshaw High-based "Joe Weakley's Run, Shoot and Dunk" summer camp into an important training site where inner-city kids have received guidance from NBA pros. As an assistant to Willie West, he helped Crenshaw win four state championships. Later, he coached the Los Angeles Southwest College Cougars back to life.

China may be having difficulty in some sports, but not in weightlifting. Zhan Xugang, the 1995 world champion, gave China its second weightlifting gold medal of the Games, prevailing at 154 1/2 pounds while setting three world records Zhan, 22, lifted 358 pounds in the snatch and 429 3/4 pounds in the clean-and-jerk for a total of 788 pounds. North Korea's Kim Myong-nam, who had set the previous records in April, won the silver and Hungary's Attila Feri took bronze.