Although China's speed skating team again failed to end the country's gold medal drought at the ongoing Turin Winter Olympic Games, a new crop of young skaters has boosted the country's hopes.

During the women's 500m speed skating competition on Tuesday, considered one of the biggest gold medal opportunities for China, veteran skater Wang Manli failed to make a breakthrough for her country in the event, finishing second after Svetlana Zhurova of Russia. Meanwhile, young skater Ren Hui lit up the crowd by surprisingly winning the bronze.

"I'm very satisfied with my skating today," said the 23-year-old bronze medallist. "My goal at the event was only finishing in the top eight before the competition, so I felt no pressure at all. Maybe that's why I performed well."

Another young Chinese skater Wang Beixing, who also has a strong chance for a medal, ranked eighth, and her team-mate Xing Aihua finished 13th.

Led by such young guns, China, which had experienced speed skating glory more than 10 years ago, is ready to reclaim the brilliance soon.

"On the women's side, especially in the short distance events, we have some young skaters who skated well recently, and they are the new hopes of China," said Xiao Hua, team leader of the nation's speed skating team.

The achievement gained by Chinese speed skaters goes back to the 1960s.

In 1963, Luo Zhihuan won the men's 1,500m title at the World Speed Skating Championships in Nagano, Japan, which was the first world championships gold medal for China in winter sports.

Wang Xiuli, born in the year when Luo made the breakthrough for China, won women's 1,500m at the World Championships in Ottawa, Canada, in 1990.

At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, Ye Qiaobo won the first winter Olympic medal for China by grabbing two silver medals in women's 500m and 1,000m.

But since the "Ye Qiaobo era" ended in 1994, China's speed skating has been stuck in the doldrums.

To regain success in the sport, China began to make more efforts.

"About two years ago, we sent several skaters to train abroad with a foreign coach, which has been benefiting us a lot," said Xiao. "Our overall strength in the sport has been raised a lot in recent years."

Despite veteran Wang's dominance of the women's 500m event over the last three seasons, those young skaters showed their improvement step by step as well.

In the 2004 World Single Distance Championships, Ren claimed the bronze in the 500m. She also took two golds and a silver, despite a back injury at the 2005 Winter Universiade, setting a record in the 500m.

"After the Olympics, I will start from the very beginning to take steady training," said Ren. "I'm still young and the Olympic bronze medal is a big motivation for me. I will go on to improve myself step by step in the future."

Wang Beixing, 21, who trained with Canadian coach Kevin Crockett, also rose up the ranks quickly.

She claimed the 500m silver at the 2005 World Single Distances Championships and finished on the podium in all four of her starts at this year's World Cup series.

"The foreign coach has taught me a lot, especially some new skills and ideas," said Wang. "China has a lot of good young skaters, and all of us will try our best to reach our goals one by one for our country."

On the men's side, the situation is also optimistic, as seen by Xiao after 21-year-old Yu Fengtong finished 5th at the men's 500m race at the Winter Games.

"Some young men skaters improved quickly as well, such as Yu Fengtong," said Xiao. "Since the competition on the men's side is very fierce, Yu's result could be called a breakthrough."

Veteran's tears

Despite the potentially bright future for China in speed skating, a silver medal left the 33-year-old veteran skater Wang Manli in tears at her 4th and probably her last Olympic Games.

"My tears should be for my mixed feelings now - the deep regret of not winning the gold and the happiness of winning a silver for my country," said Wang after the competition.

"Everybody may feel the pressure during the Games, but I did not transfer the heavy pressure into the motive force. It is my own mental burden that caused my loss."

After Ye, Wang is the most successful speed skater in China.

Winning the 500m gold medals at the 2004 and 2005 World Championships and claiming victory in almost all the stages at the World Cup series in the past three seasons, Wang was the biggest favourite for the gold in Turin.

But losing the gold to Zhurova in the 2006 Worlds just before the Olympic Games was a shadow in her Olympic dream, and she failed to properly adjust to the psychological situation.

During the two races at the Turin Games, she ranked behind Zhurova.

"I know my rival very well, and if I performed in my normal situation, it will be a close match. But this time, I lost in the mental side at the beginning," Wang, the oldest athlete among the Chinese delegation, choked afterwards.

Experiencing a slump from 1997 to 2000, Wang briefly contemplated retirement, but her strong will drove her back into the sport with a renewed commitment to strive for an Olympic medal.

After finishing only 13th in the 500m at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games, she was hoping for an Olympic gold medal in Turin to end her 23 years' skating career.

Since she came close with a silver, her future career is still in doubt.

"I'm in such an excited and grieved mood that I even thought nothing about whether to retire or not," Wang added.

Source: China Daily