Yao Ming and Song Andong offer the long and short of Beijing's bid for Olympics
Towering retired NBA star pitches for Beijing alongside diminutive figure skater Denis Ten who pushes Almaty's case to host 2022 Winter Games
Former NBA star Yao Ming and Sochi Olympic bronze medallist figure skater Denis Ten differ in height by exactly two feet. The towering basketballer is representing Beijing's bid for the 2022 Olympics, and the diminutive figure skater is boosting the bid from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
But size was not a factor yesterday as both did their best to bring more attention to their delegations ahead of tomorrow's IOC vote for the 2022 Winter Games host city.
On the eighth floor of a downtown hotel in Kuala Lumpur, the 2.29-metre Yao talked proudly of all his Summer Games experiences - Olympics in Sydney, Athens and in his home country when Beijing was host in 2008.
Did he ever think he would be singing the praises of a Winter Olympics bid for Beijing? "Summer or Winter Games, they all represent the Olympic ideals," said Yao, who retired in 2011 after foot injuries cut short his career. "It's the right time, the perfect time for the Olympics to return to Beijing."
The 2010 gold medallist figure skaters Shen Zue and Zhao Hongbo were also brought in by Beijing bid officials to speak in favour of the Chinese capital as the 2022 host, despite criticisms that much of the snow for ski events will have to be artificial and the Alpine venues are too far from the city.
Yao later appeared at another news conference with 18-year-old Song Andong, who became the first Chinese-born hockey player to be drafted in the National Hockey League when the New York Islanders took him in the entry draft in June. Since being picked, Song has been billed as the NHL's answer to Yao.