Disappointment hits Yao as Games come to end
By DAVID BARRON

BEIJING — Long before the Olympic flame was extinguished on Sunday, Yao Ming was feeling the sadness that comes on the morning after any great party.

“I look at these Games, now that they are over, and I wonder what is the next thing for myself, for my country, for all of us?” Yao said just a few hours before he took part in the Closing Ceremony.

“We have spent so many years preparing for this event and now it is over. I have just played in the most important competition of my career. Is my life over?

“I know that’s not true. I know that sounds silly. But I guess you have to be Chinese to understand part of that feeling now and maybe you have to be me to know it all.”

The 7-6 Rockets center is the face of China to much of the outside world, towering physically and figuratively over so many of his countrymen, and has been carrying the burden of expectation ever since Beijing was awarded the Games in 2001.

Yao worked relentlessly to rehab the broken left foot that wiped out the end of his 2008 NBA season and left his Olympic participation in doubt. He played at far less than 100 percent fitness and hobbled off the floor at the end of the final game.

“Did I get everyone in Houston worried with the limp?” he asked with a smile. “The bone in the foot is fine. I just had some blisters.”

Despite being a central figure in the Olympics in the most populous nation in the world, Yao said he’s been insulated from much of the excitement because the basketball team has been sequestered away.
Something deep

“This has been a different kind of Olympics for me, really less of the Olympic experience,” Yao said. “I do miss that excitement from the village of Sydney and Athens. You meet athletes that you might never see again the rest of your life.”

After seven years of getting ready for the Games and billions of dollars spent, Yao hopes the Olympics can leave a legacy beyond the memories of a spectacular show.

“Right now, we have to think: ‘What can the Olympics leave for us? Not just the village, the stadiums, the facilities, but the things beyond them. What can we learn from the Olympics?’

“A lot of people, not just athletes, every human in the world needs to think about the bigger picture, needs to think about what we can do to make this world a better place.”

Yao plans to establish his foundation, with an immediate goal of helping earthquake victims from Chengdu. But he is not quite ready to let go of the positives the Olympics brought to China.
Growing with China

“This is the first time that China really has a chance for attention from all over the world,” he said. “I know China the last 10 or 20 years has become bigger and more powerful in this world.

“But still not many foreign people come to China and the Olympics have made China touchable these past weeks. Not just on TV or in a picture book on in a newspaper. There are a lot of people from all over the world here. They have come to China to find out for themselves the real China — the good things, the bad things. You know, many of the things that are the same in every country. To know that we’ve had a chance to welcome the world and have a chance to let them see us, talk to us, live with us, gives me a good feeling. That’s a good dream.”

It was a much different feeling than Wednesday, when China was eliminated and Yao no longer had the tangible, significant role of putting on the Team China uniform.

“After (the) Lithuania game, I come back to my room and I feel my energy just go away,” Yao said. “My body is empty. I have a couple minutes lying on the bed when I cannot even move. Not because I’m tired, but because mentally I feel really, really sad. These games I’ve prepared for almost my whole life and now they’re over.”

Yet in a month, he’ll be returning to Houston to start his seventh NBA season with the Rockets, another one that will start with optimism and hope. Can he stay healthy? Can he and Tracy McGrady get out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time? Can Ron Artest help make them contenders?

“I think we don’t have any excuse,” he said. “We say that every year. But still we don’t have any excuse. Let the results say it.”

Copyright 2008 Chronicle Olympic Bureau
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