Asians reap solid medal harvest in China's shadow

By Paul Eckert

BEIJING (Reuters) - An undefeated run by South Korea's baseball team and surprises from Mongolia and North Korea helped Asia share some Olympic gold and glory in a Beijing Games dominated by host China.

South Korea's baseball gold medal capped a seventh place finish in the medal table, with 13 golds picked up in traditional niche sports taekwondo and archery and crowned by a rare swimming gold from Park Tae-hwan in the 400 men's freestyle.

Japan dipped from its strong 2004 showing, but still ended with nine golds, to finish eighth overall, lifted by two swimming golds by breaststroker Kosuke Kitajima and a stunning upset softball win over the Americans.

Some of Asia's golden moments in Beijing featured athletes landing their country's first Olympic titles.

Mongolian judoka Tuvshinbayar Naidan's 100kg gold medal inspired politicians to set aside a feud that had paralysed the nation. And that was followed by a surprise gold on Sunday for Mongolia's Badar-Uugan Enkhbat in the bantamweight boxing.

Although not a national first gold for India, which has won eight in men's hockey, the country celebrated and lavished nearly $400,000 in cash on shooter Abhinav Bindra after he won the first solo Olympic title for his medal-hungry nation.

Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan won the Olympic gold medal in the badminton men's doubles on the eve of Indonesia's national day in what the Jakarta Post called "the best present it could hope for on its 63rd anniversary of independence".

RESURGENT ASIA?

There was rare good news for North Koreans, whose reclusive government does not broadcast the Olympics for fear of showcasing rival South Korea's success, with a weightlifting title and a surprise Olympic gymnastics gold in the vault for Hong Un-jong.

After winning North Korea's first Olympic gold medal since 1996, women's 63kg weightlifter Pak Hyon Suk called her feat "the best present for the president and for the people of the country" -- a reference to North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il.

Midway through the Games, as the medal tally of China and its neighbours mounted, China's flagship People's Daily newspaper urged Asia to "take joy in seeing that on the grand stage of the Olympic Games, the Asian tempest blows stronger and stronger".

Analysts saw a mixture of pride in China and competitive fear of a Chinese juggernaut.

Jung Hee-joon, a sports science professor at Dong-A university in Busan, South Korea, said his country had done well to diversify its medal haul away from archery and taekwondo.

"It is a positive sign that the sports in which South Korean athletes are strong have become more diverse, compared to the past when they were only good in some sports such as archery or martial arts," he said.

But the Chinese women archers who ended South Korea's dominance in Olympics gold showed China was "eating into not only Korea's strong sports but also those of the world", Jung warned.