Rising sports: China's growing skills in other Olympic disciplines

Race Walking

Chinese walkers swept away the frustration of a blank sheet at the Beijing Games by picking up four medals at the London Olympics.

Chen Ding (pictured), 20, broke the Olympic record on his way to winning gold in the men's 20km walk. It was China's second gold medal in men's athletics after Liu Xiang's won the 110m hurdles at the Athens Games in 2004.

China had won titles in the women's 20km race at the 1992 and 2000 Olympic Games, but was yet to strike gold in the men's events. The men's team claimed one gold and two bronze medals.

Wang Zhen, 20, took bronze in the men's 20km walk, while 26-year-old Si Tianfeng added another bronze in the men's 50km walk. In the women's events, Cheyang Sigya from the Tibet autonomous region won bronze in the women's 20km walk.

The rejuvenation of the Chinese walking team has been attributed to the coaching of Italian Sandro Damilano, who guided his home country to a gold and a bronze medal at the Beijing Games. He started to tutor the Chinese in 2009.

According to Si, the 62-year-old Italian has helped hone the skills of Chinese athletes and also introduced scientific methods to monitor their condition.

"We used to lag behind the western walkers in the past, but now we are narrowing the gap, and I believe we will take the gold from the Russians some day," he said.

Swimming

It was a pool of joy for Chinese swimming in London.

Zhang Lin was the nation's first male swimmer to win an Olympic medal in the men's 400m freestyle at the Beijing Games.

However, the emergence of Sun Yang (pictured) has taken Chinese swimming to new heights. The 20-year-old won four freestyle medals in London, including two gold medals - in the men's 400m and 1,500m.

Also, 16-year-old Ye Shiwen stunned the world by winning gold medals in the women's 200m and 400m individual medleys, setting the world record in the 400m event.

Fencing

Chinese fencers proved themselves to be among the world's best by collecting another two Olympic titles at the London Games.

After Luan Jujie won China's first Olympic fencing title in the women's individual foil in 1984 and Zhong Man's won in the men's saber four years ago, Lei Sheng (pictured) claimed China's first victory in the men's individual foil, which has been monopolized by European fencers since the modern Olympics began in 1896.

The China women's epee team, which is under the guidance of French coach Daniel Levavasseur, also won the country's first Olympic gold medal in an epee event.

The 64-year-old, who guided the French fencers to individual and team titles in women's epee at the 1996 Olympics, was invited to China last May. According to Chinese media, though only spending one to two months in China each year, Levavasseur has made full use of his resources to bring Chinese fencers to train and compete in Europe, which has contributed greatly to the country's improvement.

Sailing

Chinese sailor Xu Lijia (pictured) pocketed China's second Olympic sailing title, and the first in the Laser Radial class, at the London Games. The win is expected to help boost China's profile in the sport

Xiao Tian, vice-minister of China's General Administration of Sport, said Xu's win marks the country's success in exploring an international cooperation model in sport development. The sailing team's members spend most of their time training and competing in Europe.

"We should change our former model and operate some sports in an international and market-driven way: such as sailing, golf, tennis and Formula One, which are highly professional and have huge commercial potential," Xiao said.