Source: Telegraph UK
But the Houston Rockets star was unable to single-handedly fulfil China’s hopes of upsetting the United States Dream Team in their opening game of the basketball tournament.
The mighty efforts of the tallest man in the competition proved insufficient against the combined power of Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Jason Kidd and co, who prevailed 101-70 in an impressive show of strength that ruthlessly ended the unrealistic pre-game expectations of the hosts.
With the 2008 Dream Team striving to regain the Olympic title which the United States lost in Athens four years ago, the match did not turn into the superpower confrontation which had been frenziedly built up beforehand, as the Americans maintained their record of never having lost to China in five contests at the Games.
It did not start quite that way, with the visitors clearly unnerved by what was certainly a superpower occasion at the Wukesong Indoor Arena. It was Yao who fittingly opened the scoring with a three-pointer after 24 seconds which was rapturously received by the home crowd.
The Americans could only shake their heads as the man who is renowned for his height has only previously managed one successful three-point shot in 404 matches in the NBA, and that was almost five and half years ago. They are more used to his blocking and rebounding skills, which he proceeded to show to good effect.
But gradually the tricky and guile of the United States superstars, allied with increasingly assured teamwork, found a way round the giant’s defence and it began to seem as if the stress fracture of his foot, that had kept Yao off the court for five months this year, was still a problem for him.
A deficit of 16-20 after the first quarter turned into a decisive difference at the interval of 37-49 as the Americans inexorably pulled clear towards the end of the first half. By the finish, it was only prevented from being a record win for the United States as the Dreamers eased up at this early stage of the competition.
The American goal is simple: reach the top of the podium or their visit to Beijing will be a failure. For China, the first priority now will be to get through the group stages. Then they can think about surpassing their previous Olympic best of eighth place in 1996 and again in 2004.
But this might just have been the most difficult opponent they will ever face.