Olympic Pride and Predictions

	Zheng Zhi will try to better China's previous olympic perfomance

They will becheered on 被打气by achorus 合唱of 1.3 billion Chinese… and a few Charlton Athletic fans.

English club Charlton Athletic have released Zheng to captain his country through the tournament. Charlton boss Alan Pardew said the player would be missed by Charlton fans, who would be supporting China.

He added that taking part in the Olympics in hishomeland 家乡would be a "wonderful experience" for Zheng and his team-mates.

Zheng will be hoping tobetter 超越China's only previous performance at the games in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when they leftgoalless 一球未进after three games.

The Olympics do provide an opportunity for new, young teams to shine. In 1996 Nigeria beat Argentina to win gold and in 2000, Cameroon won a final against Spain on penalties.

Butin terms of medals 就奖牌而言, the hosts have a much better chance in the women's competition. China have always fielded strong women's teams, taking silver in the first women’s Olympic football tournament in 1996, and then becomingrunners-up 第二名in the 1999 World Cup.

But if neither of the national teamsmake it to 坚持到thepodium 领奖台, Chinese fans can alwaysinvoke 使用the famous Olympicslogan 口号- 'The important thing is not to win, but totake part 参与'.

But who is taking part? Elsewhere in the men’s competition, it's still not exactly clear.

Argentina will be defending their gold medal with a team including Liverpool's Javier Mascherano, who helped lift the cup in 2004. However, coach Sergio Batista is stillwrangling 争论with Barcelona over their star player Lionel Messi.

Big clubs are reluctant to release their players for the Olympics since they miss important club matches and run the risk of injury. But Fifa has ruled that clubs must release players under the age of 23 if their nations request them.

Barcelona havelodged an appeal 上诉with the Court ofArbitration 仲裁for Sport (CAS) over the release of Messi. They want him for the first leg of theirChampions League 冠军联赛third qualifying round tie on 12 August.

But Messi has said that it is his dream to play for his country in the Olympic Games.

The CAS judgement is expected on Wednesday at the latest.

Batista might take some comfort in the knowledge that Brazil's coach Dunga is also anxiously awaiting the CASruling 裁决. He'll find out whether he has obtained Diego and Rafinha from their German clubs Werder Bremen and Schalke.

The Olympics are the only title Brazil have never won – anexception 例外that Dunga is desperate toput right 改正，修正.