Right man in right spot for China gold

BEIJING (Reuters) - Zhong Man said he had just the right man on his side to help him win China's first Olympic fencing gold medal in 24 years on Tuesday.

When the score was tied at 9 in his men's saber final against Frenchman Nicolas Lopez, Zhong heeded the advice of Christian Bauer, the former French national team coach who was hired in 2006 to train the Chinese saber team.

"The coach told me to push forward and not be so passive," said 25-year-old Zhong, who went on to win the next six points and the gold.

"I think he is the greatest coach in the world," Zhong said of Bauer, who took on his job with the Chinese two years after leading Italian Aldo Montano to Olympic gold in Athens.

Bauer's contract stipulated one thing: a Chinese fencer must win Olympic gold, something that had not happened since Jujie Luan did it in 1984 in Los Angeles.

"He is a professional coach first, not a Frenchman," said Zhong.

While Lopez won the silver medal, Mihai Covaliu of Romania took the bronze.

Although France have been looking for a men's individual saber medal since 1988, Bauer's Italian and Chinese pupils have won the last two.

To anyone in France that might complain, he has a simple answer: "I do my job."

When Bauer arrived in China, he was shocked to find his players training too hard, even while injured, following the Chinese tradition of driving athletes to the limit.

He immediately sent his fencers on holiday, which upset Chinese officials.

"When I came here all the people were overworking," said Bauer.

"For me it was very difficult because the Chinese do not understand this. I was lucky because two months later there were the Asian Games and we won everything, so after that they left me alone."

With his contract now finished, Bauer's future in China may be short.

"The Chinese are different," he said. "Next year you have national games and it's more important than world championships. Next year the national team is finished, all the people go back to their provinces for this competition."

(Additional reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison and Julien Pretot, editing by Ralph Gowling)