Chinese delegation for Paris Olympics announced; netizens send blessings

The Chinese sports delegation for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games was announced in Beijing on Saturday with netizens sending blessings and best wishes that the national sports delegation achieve the best of results and win the highest number of gold medals.

The delegation consists of a total of 716 people, including 405 athletes, 136 male and 269 female, competing in 30 sports at the Games to be officially opened on July 26. The average age of Chinese athletes is 25, with 42 Olympic champions and 223 first-time Olympians.

There are 26 minority athletes, coming from 12 different ethnic minorities of Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Uygur, Miao, Zhuang, Korean, Manchu, Dong, Bai, Tujia, and Kazakh.

The delegation includes 42 foreign staff  from 17 countries and regions, including Serbia, Spain, Italy, among which there are 34 foreign coaches.

Women's skateboarding player Zheng Haohao, 11, is the youngest member of the delegation, while the 37-year-old race walker Liu Hong, who is participating in her fifth Olympics, will be the oldest athlete of Chinese delegation.

The news received widespread public attention and quickly began trending topic on Chinese social media platforms soon after it was released. On Chinese X-like Sina Weibo, more than 24 million had viewed the topic within one hour of the announcement.

Netizens expressed their respect and blessings for the whole delegation and some expressed their deep admiration for their sporting idols. 

"Cheer for Quan Hongchan and Team China," one netizen commented on Sina.

"Wang Chuqin, Sun Yingsha, Fan Zhendong, go go go!" another said.

Over 10 thousand athletes from more than 200 countries and regions are expected to take part in the Paris Olympics from July 26 to August 11, according to Xinhua News Agency.