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: Yao Ming 

Date of birth: September 12, 1980 in Shanghai 

Olympic entry: Men's basketball 

Career highlights: Eighth-place finish at Athens 2004 and 10th at Sydney 2000; five-time NBA All-Star.

NBA star Yao Ming is a hero among millions of sports fans on the mainland.

His transformation from a humble basketball machine to charismatic star has been a source of immense national pride, but for Yao his 'Superman' status has come at a cost.

'You can call me a basketball star, I feel good, or you can call me a celebrity, no problem. But if you call me China's national hero, I have to say I am under incredible pressure,' Yao said. 'Playing that role, you're not meant to just throw the ball into the rim, you are supposed to do everything.

'But is there anything I want to complain about? No. If you want glory, you have to take the pressure. There is no way to escape from it.'

The Houston Rockets centre is the country's best-paid and most popular sporting celebrity.

 Yao's face features on thousands of billboards and in countless television adverts - touting everything from Coca-Cola to Visa, to China Life insurance. He earned US$56.6 million last year, according to Forbes.

'He's not only good on the basketball court but also off it. He's a good person, not just a good player,' said Xu Jicheng, a top Chinese basketball commentator and friend of Yao.

As an athlete, Yao's most obvious quality is his height, a freakish 220cm.

 'In the past two years he has started to look like a great player. He is the first of the really big guys who could really play,' Alan Paul, China bureau chief for the US basketball magazine Slam, said.

 'The others couldn't really move. Certainly his height is pretty incredible but he is very skilful so I don't think it is his height alone. If Yao was a little shorter, I think he would still be a great player.'

 Yao's height, and perhaps his basketball skills, came from his parents. His father Yao Zhiyuan is 208cm and a former centre for Shanghai while his mother, Fang Fengdi, is 188cm and captained China's women's team.

By the age of nine, Yao was 30cm taller than his classmates and had already been drafted into the sports system at a school in Shanghai. Five years later he was a professional nicknamed 'little giant'.

 At 18, he represented China for the first time at senior level and in 1999 he helped his country to become Asian champions, and NBA scouts started to take notice.

 In 2000, he joined China's first two NBA players, Wang Zhizhi and Menk Bateer, to form the 'great wall' as China finished 10th at the Sydney Olympics.

 After his Shanghai Sharks club finally won the Chinese Basketball Association title in 2002, Yao decided to enter the NBA draft and became the first international player to be number one pick when the Rockets selected him.

Today, Yao, 27, has replaced Shaquille O'Neal as arguably the best centre in the world. Back home he has inspired a generation of basketball fans, and China's fan base of 350 million is now the NBA's top overseas market.

These fans were worried in February, when Yao was sidelined with a stress fracture in his left foot that threatened his participation in Beijing. Before the injury, Yao had averaged 22 points and 10.8 rebounds for the Rockets, and his phenomenal offensive skills are crucial to the success of the national team.

A combination of western and traditional Chinese medicine, plus a healthy dose of patriotism, has ensured that Yao can compete - and carry the national flag at the opening ceremony.

'If I cannot play in the Olympics for my country this time, that would be the biggest loss of my career,' he said when announcing his injury.

Yao missed 32 games during the 2006-20 07 season with a fractured right tibia and 21 games the previous season with a toe infection that required surgery.

 If China are to improve on their eighth-place finish at Athens - after which Yao accused his teammates of 'lacking the desire to win' - there can't be any more setbacks.

?oAdditional reporting by Reuters




No 2: Yao Ming