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In a country long focused on bringing home as many Olympic gold medals as possible, this years haul isnt what China expected. Wholesale Retro Jordans China .When Chinas 416-athlete delegation set off for Rio, state sports officials were banking on 30 to 36 gold medals. As the games end, it had won just 24 for the worst showing since Atlanta in 1996.Lagging in third place, Chinas total is a far cry from the countrys 51-gold performance in Beijing that topped the gold medal chart.But so what?The once-feverish obsession with the gold tally has slowly subsided among the Chinese public, which has shown more interest this year in lavishing adoration on athletes with personalities, such as bronze medalist Fu Yuanhui, rather than counting medals.Finally, the public desire for golds has returned to normal, said Lu Yuanzhen, a professor of sports at South China Normal University who has long argued that a mature nation should have a more relaxed attitude toward wins and losses in athletic competitions.The ordinary Chinese people have become more indifferent to the medal counts now they understand Olympic golds bear little impact on their real lives, Lu told The Associated Press.For decades, the Communist state has rallied national unity and pride on the countrys athletic performances on the world stage, especially in the Olympics. The entire country was moved to tears when Xu Haifeng, a pistol shooter, won the first gold Olympic medal for Communist China in Los Angeles in 1984. It was considered a sign that China finally was able to claim a place among world powers, a huge boost to national pride.The fever only grew as Beijing sought better Olympic performances and the ultimate goal of hosting the games. The Olympics was a national obsession, and gold medalists were household names and rewarded generously.Chinas gold medal tally climbed to 28 in Sydney, 32 in Athens and 51 in Beijing. In London, Chinese athletes still took away 38 gold medals and were second only to U.S. Olympians.But following the climax in Beijing, public obsession with Olympic golds began to fade, and voices of criticism grew louder against the state-run sports system credited with the countrys stellar Olympic performances.Critics argue the brutal system has sacrificed vast numbers of rank-and-file athletes, encouraged dishonesty -- such as doping, age alteration and game rigging -- in the name of national honor, and distanced sports from the public.When this years games began in Rio, state media lamented the lack of golds on the opening day, but Chinese sports fans stayed nonchalant. They were more interested in chasing athletes oozing with personality.The most telling example is Fu Yuanhui, a female swimmer who overnight became a social media sweetheart for claiming she had used primeval force in a semifinal. She eventually won a bronze. Shaped by the social media instead of the state parlance, Fus vernacular resonated with ordinary Chinese people, who were already bored with empty talks.Ning Zetao, another swimmer, came home empty-handed from Rio but still grabbed headlines because of his undiminished popularity back in China. And Chinese social media was full of encouraging words when swimmer Sun Yang failed to qualify for the 1,500-meter free style final, a sharp contrast to the days when the Chinese public hurled hurtful words at athletes failing to cinch the gold.The swimmers got a welcome from thousands of fans at a Beijing airport. Fu was scared. Nings appearance caused congestion, and besieged by fans seeking photographs and autographs, he could barely move.At recently as 2008, the public booed hurdler Liu Xiang when he could not get off the starting line in Beijing because of injuries.The public has gone to another extreme -- tolerance of non-champions and even adoration of them, wrote Li Ruyi, a veteran Chinese sports writer in a commentary on the news site ifeng.com.Under the most pressure are Chinese gymnasts, who came home with two bronzes this year, the worst performance ever in 32 years.It is also the first time that Team China, a longtime powerhouse in gymnastics, did not win a single gold since China returned to the Olympics in 1984. For the past several years, Chinas gymnastics officials have worried that the state system is running out of steam because the national team has a dwindling pool from which to recruit top talent, a consequence of isolating young talent in the state system.Even if there is more acceptance that every year wont bring a haul of gold, there is still a sense of alarm, and many dont like that China sits behind the United States and Great Britain in the race for golds.There are also whispers that Japan, the upcoming host of the 2020 Summer Olympics Games, could pose a threat to China. That prospect is likely to rekindle the countrys nationalistic sentiments, because of long-time animosity toward the neighboring country that invaded China and shamed the Middle Kingdom in the early 20th century.If the Chinese delegations achievements should indeed decline at this years Rio Olympic games, it begs some serious thoughts on the part of Chinas sports circle, wrote Liu Ge, a state media commentator in the party-run Global Times. The public can accept some mistakes and some failures, but the tolerance over the loss of one gold does not mean that Chinas sports circle should not care about the overall haul of golds and medals. Cheap Jordans For Sale Wholesale . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. Cheap Retro Jordans For Sale . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. http://www.cheapjordanfromchina.com/ . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will end the regular season with Bedlam for the Big 12 title. The Sooners already won their other big rivalry game this year.Each October at the State Fair of Texas, Oklahoma plays Texas in the Red River Showdown. The crowd is split evenly at midfield, with fans clad in crimson and burnt orange on opposite ends of the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium.The few real rivalry games in the 20-year-old Big 12 carry over from the old Big Eight and Southwest conferences.Bedlam will have Big 12 title implications for the fourth time in six years since the league went to 10 teams without divisions.When the Big 12 reinstates its title game next season, the top two teams in the overall standings will play for the championship. If that was the case this year or last year, the Sooners and Cowboys would have played consecutive games against each other both times.A look at some Big 12 rivalries:OKLAHOMA-OKLAHOMA STATESeries began: 1904.Series record: Oklahoma leads 85-18-7.Trophy: Bedlam Bell.Why its a big deal: Its a more than century-old intrastate rivalry that incorporates not only football, but every sport the two schools play against each other. Despite the lopsided advantage in football by Oklahoma, many of the recent games have had a direct impact on who wins the Big 12 title.Best game: In 2012, Oklahoma kept its Big 12 title hopes alive with a 51-48 overtime victory after never leading in regulation and wiping out double-digit deficits in both halves. The Sooners tied the game on Blake Bells fourth-down 4-yard keeper with 4 seconds left in regulation.This year: The winner Dec. 3 in Norman is the conference champ. Seventh-ranked Oklahoma is going for its 10th Big 12 title, while No. 10 Oklahoma State has won only one.KANSAS-KANSAS STATESeries began: 1902.Series record: Disputed due to a forfeit by the Jayhawks in 1980. Kansas believes it leads 65-43-5 while Kansas State says it is 64-44-5.Trophy: Governors Cup.Why its a big deal: The Sunflower Showdown is one of six series in the nation that has been played continuously for at least 100 years. The game usually has special meaning because both schools recruit in-state talent -- nearly 100 players from Kansas dot the rosters of the two teams.Best game: What should have been the best game occurred in 1995, when the Jayhawks were ranked sixth and the up-and-coming Wildcats were No. 14. But as has happened so often in the series, the game tuurned into a rout. Wholesale Retro Jordans Cheap. Kansas State won 41-7.This year: Kansas State coach Bill Snyder likes nothing more than to beat up Kansas, and doing so Saturday would give him career win No. 200. The Jayhawks upset Texas last weekend for coach David Beatys first Big 12 win, but havent won back-to-back games since 2011.OKLAHOMA-TEXASSeries began: 1900.Series record: Texas leads 61-45-5.Trophy: The Golden Hat.Why its a big deal: The Red River Showdown, that moniker a nod to the river that separates the two states, is played about a three-hour drive from each campus in the shadow of a Texas-sized Ferris wheel. It has been played in Dallas every year since 1929. Theres the real Texas longhorn named Bevo and the horse-drawn Sooner Schooner wagon.Best game: The 1963 game matched the nations top two teams. The Sooners were coming off a win at top-ranked USC to take over the No. 1 ranking, and the Longhorns were ranked second. Texas won 28-7 and went on to its first national championship.This year: Dede Westbrook set a single-game Oklahoma record with 232 yards receiving and Samaje Perine ran for 214 yards as Oklahoma won 45-40 in the highest-scoring game in the history of the rivalry.BAYLOR-TCUSeries began: 1899.Series record: TCU leads 53-52-7.Trophy: None.Why its a big deal: Referred as Revivalry by some, the game matches the Big 12s private Christian schools that are about 100 miles apart. They were reunited as conference rivals when TCU joined the Big 12 in 2012. (They were in the Southwest Conference together from 1923-96). The longest-played series for both teams dates back to a scoreless tie in 1899 when both schools were in Waco.Best game: In a matchup of the Big 12s only remaining undefeated teams in 2014, Baylor overcame a 21-point deficit in the final 11 minutes to win 61-58 on a game-ending field goal. That was TCUs only loss that season. The Horned Frogs and Bears finished as Big 12 co-champions, both at 11-1 overall, and were the first two teams left out of the initial College Football Playoff.This year: Kyle Hicks ran for 192 yards and five TDs as TCU won 62-22 on Nov. 5, handing Baylor its worst home loss since 2005.---AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta contributed to this report.---More AP college football at www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 ' ' '