Sawt Falasteen - China at the Paris Olympics: five stars to watch

AFP Sport highlights five Chinese competitors to watch when the Games start on Friday:

- Pan Zhanle (swimming) -

The 19-year-old goes into the Games in the French capital on the back of a hugely successful world championships in Doha at the start of the year.

The competition did not have its strongest field because some top stars opted to skip it to focus on their Olympic preparations.

But the teenager was nevertheless impressive, winning four gold medals including romping to victory in the marquee 100m freestyle.

Racing as part of China's 4x100m freestyle relay team, he clocked a time of 46.80sec, a world record.

"I was shocked when I saw the time, I wasn't expecting to break the record now," Pan said.

"I wanted to leave it for the Paris Olympics."

- Quan Hongchan (diving) -

China's divers won all but one of the eight titles in Tokyo -- Britain took the other -- and will again be expected to dominate in Paris.

Their diving team is packed with talent, but the standout is the 17-year-old Quan Hongchan.

She already has five world titles and clinched gold in the 10m platform in Tokyo, when she was just 14. She did so with three perfect 10s to relegate team-mate Chen Yuxi to a distant silver.

It was the first time Quan had competed outside China.

Quan was one of five children born into a poor rural family. Her father was an orange farmer and her mother worked in a factory until a road accident left her in poor health.

Quan was motivated to win at the Olympics to pay for her mother's hospital bills.

- Shi Yuqi (badminton) -

Shi has had a turbulent career but looks to have timed his run to the Olympics to perfection.

Once mentioned as the natural heir to former Olympic champions Lin Dan and Chen Long, Shi was well beaten in the quarter-finals by eventual champion Viktor Axelsen in Tokyo.

He then disappeared from competition for nearly a year, only to return towards the end of 2022.

It emerged that China's badminton bosses had suspended him following a bizarre incident when he had retired at match point during a match. Shi was accused of bad sportsmanship and banned.

Now 28, in June he overtook Denmark's Axelsen to become men's world number one for the first time and could win his first Olympic gold.

- Zheng Qinwen (tennis) -

Zheng has emerged as one of China's biggest sports stars after reaching a debut Grand Slam final at the Australian Open in January and breaking into the world's top 10.

She was beaten in the title-decider 6-3, 6-2 by defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.

But getting to the championship match confirmed what many experts had long said -- that Zheng was a serious talent -- and she reached a career-high ranking of seven as a result.

The 21-year-old comes to Paris fresh from retaining her title on clay in Palermo.

Zheng has emerged as a big draw off the court too, signing endorsement deals with a slew of major global brands and appearing on the cover of high-profile fashion magazines.

- Ma Long (table tennis) -

The 35-year-old legend has won every major prize in the sport, some multiple times.

Ma already has five Olympic golds -- two singles and three team titles -- and is also a three-time singles world champion.

For what is surely his final Olympics, China made a big call by deciding that Ma will only play the team event, meaning he will not defend his singles crown.

World number one Wang Chuqin will instead spearhead China's bid for men's singles glory, underlining how they are spoilt for choice.

China are the undoubted super power of table tennis.

In the history of the Olympics, China have won 32 of the 37 golds contested.

South Korea with three, and Japan and Sweden with one each, are the only other countries to have ever won Olympic gold.

R.Halabi--SF-PST