体坛英语新闻：Chinese mainland Olympic champions wow crowd at HK Stadium

HONG KONG, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Visiting delegation of Chinese mainland London Olympics' gold medalists met the public at Hong Kong Stadium Saturday, heating up the crowd with warm greetings and wonderful performances.

More than 30,000 spectators participated in the "Mainland Olympic Gold Medalists Extravaganza", cheering and applauding for their idols along the course of the showing, which was co-hosted by four emcees, including ex-gymnastics "princess" Liu Xuan.

CY Leung, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said at the opening of the show that all the Hong Kong people are looking forward to the visit of mainland Olympic champions and the gala this afternoon with great excitement and enthusiasm. He also expressed great gratitude to the athletes for their outstanding achievements on behalf of the HKSAR government and Hong Kong people.

Liu Peng, head of the delegation and General Director of the General Administration of Sport of China, also conveyed his blessings and thanks to Hong Kong citizens for their constant and strong support.

Singing featured dominantly in the event. Table tennis, badminton, and gymnastics teams all displayed their impressive singing skills in singing performances, to the sustained whooping and clapping of audience.

Among them, Sun Yang, the first Chinese man ever to win an Olympic swimming gold medal, and local pop star Leo Ku Kui Kei, sang a popular song called "King of Love Songs" together. Though seeming a little shy at the start, Sun did sing very well, holding all the fans spellbound with his amiable smile and nice demeanor.

During the day, the badminton, table tennis and diving teams gave splendid demonstrations at Queen Elizabeth Stadium and Kowloon Park Swimming Pool respectively, and another group of delegates were engaged in an exchange session with uniformed youth groups at Siu Sai Wan Sports Center.

The 70-member delegation of Chinese mainland gold medalists at the just-concluded London 2012 Olympic Games arrived in Hong Kong Friday on a three-day visit.

China ranks second in Olympic medal total at the London Summer Olympics following the United States. The Chinese mainland sports team bagged 38 gold, 27 silver and 22 bronze medals, their best overseas showing to date, surpassing their 32 gold medals haul from the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, while smashing six Olympic records and world records.