Chen Zhong must pass three levels to defend Olympic title; well prepared for the upcoming battle

Yesterday morning, the draw for the Beijing Olympic taekwondo competition was held at the Beijing University of Science and Technology. The results revealed that our province's Olympic champion, Chen Zhong, may face three formidable taekwondo competitors on her road to defending her title, including Stevenson from Britain who has previously defeated her.

According to yesterday’s draw results, on the 23rd, Chen Zhong’s first opponent will be an experienced veteran from Venezuela whose best achievement was third place in the World Championships. If everything goes as expected, Chen Zhong should smoothly pass this round.

Next, Chen Zhong's likely opponent could be an old rival from years ago - 25-year-old British athlete Stevenson. She secured fourth place in this event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, just like Chen Zhong, this is her participation in the third Olympic Games. At last year’s Olympic qualifying tournament, despite having a fractured hand, Stevenson still won the silver medal. Moreover, this girl from England once defeated Chen Zhong at the 2003 World Championships to win the gold medal, relegating Chen Zhong to second place and delaying her dream of winning the World Championships until 2007. What makes it difficult for Chen Zhong to gauge her opponent's current strength is that after losing to her in 2003, she has not faced Stevenson again. During the 2004 Athens Olympics, Stevenson lost early to the Venezuelan player, who then lost to Chen Zhong, so the two did not meet. In all subsequent international competitions, due to being in different semi-finals or different weight categories, Chen Zhong never encountered Stevenson again. This time at the Beijing Olympics, the two will once again test their skills against each other, and Chen Zhong said she would give her all to compete.

If Chen Zhong successfully overcomes Stevenson, her next possible opponent could be the strong competitor from Mexico, 19-year-old Maria Espinosa. Maria won the women's 72 kg category championship at last year’s World Championships held in Changping, Beijing, and then smoothly secured her spot at the Beijing Olympics in the same category as Chen Zhong. She is also an important rival for Chen Zhong's quest for the championship. However, in terms of major competition experience, the young Maria is slightly inferior to Chen Zhong.

If Chen Zhong can defeat Maria, the identity of her next opponent in the fourth match will depend on the other pair of semi-finalists because by then, Chen Zhong will only have one match left - the final championship match. As Chen Zhong is in the same semi-final group as several top competitors, this means that if Chen Zhong successfully clears the first three rounds, her chances of winning the championship in the finals will greatly increase since the strong competitors will already have been eliminated behind her.

On August 16th, the Chinese Taekwondo Team moved from their training base in Tianjin into the Beijing Olympic Village. With the big battle approaching, Chen Zhong showed no great pressure, and both her mental state and preparation were excellent as she waited for the start of the competition on the 23rd.