Minhang athletes excel at Paris Olympic Games

The Paris Olympic Games closed with a dazzling ceremony on August 12. Chinese athletes reaped 40 gold medals, 27 silver medals and 24 bronze medals. China won the same number of gold medals as the United States and ranked second in the total number of medals.

The 404 athletes of the Chinese Olympic sports delegation sweated and competed for their dreams, and deserve applause whether they won medals or not.

Athletes who trained in Minhang or received their education in universities in the district did an excellent job during the Paris Olympics. A review of their highlight moments in Olympic competitions shows our respect for their hard work and sparkling talent.

In the mixed 4×100m medley relay on August 4, the Chinese team made up of Qin Haiyang, Xu Jiayu, Zhang Yufei and Yang Junxuan took the silver medal in 3:37.55 and broke the Asian record.

A thrilling race saw the US narrowly lead after the backstroke, before a strong second leg on the breaststroke from Minhang's Qin put China in front.

In the men's 4×100m medley relay on August 5, Qin with his teammates Xu Jiayu, Sun Jiajun and Pan Zhanle pulled off a stunning triumph by finishing in 3:27.46 seconds, more than half a second ahead of the US team.

The result broke the United States' run of 10 successive gold medals in this event dating back to the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Qin received swimming training at Minhang District Youth Sports School from 2008 to 2014.

In the women's hockey final on August 10, China won a silver medal after narrowly losing in a penalty shoot-out.

Zhou Yu, an athlete from Minhang, joined the final competition as an alternate player.

In the women's quadruple sculls final on July 31, Chen Yunxia, Zhang Ling, Yu Yang and Cui Xiao came in at sixth place with a time of 6:27.08.

Chen was the first athlete from Minhang to win a gold medal in Olympic Games. She studied at Wenlai Junior High School and Qibao High School. She is a postgraduate student at School of International and Public Affairs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University now.

Twenty-three athletes and students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University competed in eight categories during the Paris Olympics, being ping pong, basketball, 3×3 basketball, badminton, swimming, rowing, track and field and tennis, and won six gold medals, five silver medals and three bronze medals.

Track and field athletes from East China Normal University also achieved their best performances during the Paris Olympics.

Both Shanghai Jiao Tong and ECNU have campuses in Minhang.