BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- He Zhenliang, honorary president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, said on Saturday that Chinese national rowing team was able to continue their great performance and hoped to train athletes like Britain's all-time great Steven Redgrave

    He said that Chinese rowing team should "stick to their high goals with perseverance" when attending a prize awarding ceremony held here on Saturday evening for Chinese Olympic water sports medalists and their coaches.

    Britain's Steven Redgrave became the first rower to win gold medals at five consecutive Olympics from 1984 to 2000.

    China won their first "water sports" gold medal at the Athens Olympic Games through Meng Guanliang and Yang Wenjun in the men's canoe double.

    The world's most populous country went on to win three gold medals at the Beijng Olympics. Meng and Yang successfully defended their title, Tang Bin, Jin Ziwei, Xi Aihua, Zhang Yangyang grabbed the women's quadruple sculls, and Yin Jian took the women's windsurfing.

    All these events are regarded as "water sports" in China and are governed by the Chinese Water Sports Center (CWSC).

    Wei Di, the CWSC director, told reporters that while those medalists and coaches were being granted prizes, the glory of this year had become "history".

    "We believe that we can recreate the history through best efforts in a bid to deliver better performances in the London Olympics," Wei said.