No official medals table is published for the multi-sports event which focuses on a programme promoting friendship and sportsmanship, rather than winning.
But China’s deputy chef de mission Xiao Tian told state media on Thursday that China topped the medals count.
“Our athletes claimed 37 golds, 13 silvers and 13 bronzes,” Xiao told the official news agency Xinhua, adding the tally “ranked the first in the Games”.
Unofficial tallies said China were followed by Russia on 27 golds and the US with 10.
Tennis starlet Ye Shilin, 16, who is being tipped by state media to follow in the footsteps of 32-year-old double Grand Slam winner Li Na and become China’s next great player, won the girls’ singles.
Another home-grown talent, 17-year-old Shen Duo, swept to six gold medals in the swimming pool, despite suffering from flu.
In table tennis – a sport long dominated by China – 17-year-old rising star Fan Zhendong claimed gold in both the boys’ singles and mixed team doubles events.
China also dominated the girls football, beating Venezuela 5-0 in the final on Wednesday evening.
Chinese basketball phenomenon Yao Ming – an eight-time NBA All-Star – made an appearance at the Games and backed the non-competitive emphasis, saying that events for young athletes should do “away with the results, the records, the medals”.
More than 3,700 competitors aged 15 to 18 took part in the Games, where golf and rugby, in the form of sevens, made their return to the Olympic fold, after gaps of 110 and 90 years respectively.
France won the boys’ rugby while Australia won the girls’. Italy’s Renato Paratore won the boys’ golf, while South Korea’s Lee So-Young won the girls’ event and Sweden won the mixed team gold.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2014.
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