Racist?

JIM YARDLEY on Chinese race-based thinking:

Liu Xiang 刘翔, a high hurdler, has proved what many Chinese have long felt was not possible: that yellow men can jump, and sprint, too.

"It is a kind of miracle," Mr. Liu, 21, exulted at a post-race news conference after tying the world record and winning gold in the 110-meter high hurdles. "It is unbelievable - a Chinese, an Asian, has won this event."

He added: "It is a proud moment not only for China, but for Asia and all people who share the same yellow skin color."

In many countries, particularly the United States, this kind of racial stereotyping often touches a raw nerve in society. But among Chinese, the proposition that genetic differences have made Asian athletes slower in sprinting than their American, African or European rivals is a widely accepted maxim, if an unproven one.

The Communist Party apparently thinks so, too. At the midway point of the Athens Games, with China in a surprisingly tight competition with the United States for the lead in gold medals, the party's chief newspaper, People's Daily, cautioned that track and field events were about to begin.

While Chinese are "suited" to sports like Ping-Pong, badminton and gymnastics that require agility and technique, the newspaper noted, purely athletic events are different. Chinese had "congenital shortcomings" and "genetic differences" that created disadvantages against black and white athletes.

In an effort to give this halftime pep talk a positive spin, the commentary urged Chinese athletes to work harder. "If Chinese people want to make their mark in the major Olympic competitions, they have to break through the fatalism that race determines everything," the newspaper advised...

There are no credible scientific studies to underpin the idea that Asians are physically inferior to other athletes in sprinting. Nor are Chinese alone in succumbing to ingrained racial beliefs: the Olympics victory of the white American sprinter Jeremy Wariner in the 400-meter dash startled a fair number of people in the United States. He was the first white winner of the event in 40 years.

Crazy.

Update
This looks like one of the articles that YARDLEY's quoting. It's titled 别拿短处跟人家比 (Don't Use Our Shortcomings to Compare Us to Others). The author 萧鸣 points out that someone who at 185 cm. (about 6' 1") really stands out from the crowd 鹤立鸡群 ("a stork among chickens") in China is just an ordinary-sized person in Greece, the author goes on to say,

由此看来，先天的不足，人种基因的区别，使得中国运动员在许多运动项目上吃亏。篮球、排球、足球等大球项目尤其如此。在田径等素质、力量型运动项目，同黑人、白人选手相比，中国人也无多少遗传优势。比来比去，我们似乎只适合于乒乓球、羽毛球、体操、射击等灵巧型体育项目。

中国有句古话，尺有所短，寸有所长。在体育竞技奥运大赛中，中国人要想有作为，必须打破人种决定一切的宿命论。既然身高体重非我们所长，中国运动员就应在快、灵、变方面多下功夫，在集体配合与顽强斗志上胜人一筹，而不是一味地挑选大个子追赶人家。

As for the Liu Xiang quote, this is one source:

今天，中国人向世界证明了他们也可以像其他人一样跑得快。我希望这个结果可以改变认为亚洲国家或有着黄皮肤的亚洲人就一定跑不过欧洲人或美洲人的看法。

Links would have been nice.