bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Name: Guo Shuang
Date of Birth: February 26, 1986 in Inner Mongolia

Entry for Beijing Games:  Women's sprint cycling

Major results: Gold medal, National Games in 2005; Gold medal, Asian Games in 2006; Two bronze medals (Sprint and Keirin), World Championships in 2006; Two silver medals (Sprint and Keirin), World Championships in 2007

Main rivals: Willy Kanis (Netherlands), Jennie Reed (US), Natallia Tsylinskaya (Belarus)

 To some Guo Shuang is very lucky, but others believe she has had no luck at all in her climb to the top of her sport.

Of the 250 million people who ride bikes in China, the 21-year-old track rider is one of only a handful who get  to compete on the international stage. However, just as her career is at its peak the sport of professional cycling has been dragged to its lowest ebb by scandals.


The doping culture that has prevailed in the showpiece Tour de France has lessened interest in professional cycling in China, meaning Guo doesn't enjoy the same stardom  as many of her fellow gold-medal prospects.  Unlike her counterparts in the diving and table tennis teams, Guo won't be cornered by fans seeking her autograph as she is rarely seen on TV and doesn't have the usual endorsement deals.


However, the rider who is expected to win China's first Olympic cycling gold couldn't care less.


'I doubt there is a single athlete who takes up a sport just for money,' Guo said during the Good Luck Beijing World Cup series in November last year. 'No matter how much money you earn in your sport, the Olympic Games is worth more.'

Guo has been lucky, for sure. She gets to ride a US$8,000 customised carbon-fibre bike that is a far cry from the rusty, one-speed contraptions  that wobble between cars and pedestrians on the streets of the nation. But  she has to face the fact that CCTV is reluctant to broadcast cycling due to the sport's negative image, deterring advertisers, and that she doesn't have a single Chinese sponsor.

'I don't know whether the things happening in road cycling are having an effect on my event,' the world's fifth-ranked rider said. 'But I am sure there will be more and more cycling fans in China because my teammates and I are rising fast in the pro world and starting to win.'

 China's best showing in the Olympics was at the Athens Games in 2004 when Jiang Yonghua won a silver medal in the 500-metre time trial, an event that was axed from Beijing in favour of BMX.

'We used to be outsiders in the cycling world even though China is called 'the kingdom of bicycles', but now we are among the insiders, I am very proud of it,' she said.

The 21-year-old from Inner Mongolia started cycling seriously at age 13.  Guo was sent to the World Cycling Training Centre in 2002 to learn from French coach Sebastien Dulcus, the best education an aspiring track star could hope for.

Guo signalled her progress with a podium finish at the 2006 world championships and at the Doha Asian Games later that year she scooped two golds. Sensing more to come, authorities hired Daniel Morelon - another Frenchman and a four-time Olympic champion in the 1960s and 1970s - and in the world championships in 2007 he guided Guo to silver in the sprint and keirin. At the world championships in Manchester in March she placed fourth.

'I think Guo can win the gold medal in August, that's our goal,' Morelon told cyclingnews.com. 'I am sure she is one of the best in the world, so at the very least she has to win a medal in Beijing.'




No 36: Guo Shuang