体坛英语资讯：From dark horse to freestyle favorite_娱乐

体坛英语资讯：From dark horse to freestyle favorite

Han Xiaopeng, China's men's freestyle-skiing aerials gold medalist, entered the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games as a dark horse. He surprised the world by beating big-name aerialists like then World Cup-leader Kyle Nissen of Canada and Belarus' Alexei Girshin, a bronze medalist at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

体坛英语资讯：From dark horse to freestyle favorite1

Olympic champion Han Xiaopeng in action during the freestyle aerials at the World Cup series last weekend in Changchun, Jilin Province. [Xinhua]But after adding the 2007 World Championship to his trophy case, Han has shed his dark-horse status and has become a full-fledged favorite. Now the 25-year-old has his eyes set on defending his title at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

"All the competitions in these years are practices for the 2010 Olympics," said Han. "My foremost concern now is to work harder so I can defend my gold medal at the Olympics."

Han has indeed broken out this season, winning one bronze and one silver at the two opening World Cup stops held last week in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province.

But Han was hardly satisfied with his performance.

With an Olympic gold medal and a world championship title in his pocket, Han is just a World Cup gold away from realizing the skiing grand slam, which includes titles in all three competitions.

Born in Jiangsu Province in East China where warm weather makes snow and ice a rarity, Han was a sports acrobat in his early years. But when Yang Er'qi, an aerials coach from Shenyang Sports Institute in Northeast China's Liaoning Province, saw Han's agility and courage as an acrobat in 1995, he immediately recruited Han for aerials.