对于中国来说，金牌的真正分量开始显现。
在跨栏运动员刘翔起跑前，中国国家电视台给了这位奥运热门选手一个特写，解说员缓缓说道，刘翔的状态不如从前。
就在中国运动员努力实现国家对奥运会金牌极度渴求的愿望时，接下来发生的事情却集中体现了这些运动员面临的惊人压力和灼灼的审视目光。中国最知名的运动员之一刘翔在伦敦奥运会男子110米栏预赛中，起跑几秒后，跨越第一个栏时打栏摔倒，退出比赛。对于在国内观看他比赛的失望的粉丝们来说，这是四年前北京一幕令人心碎地再现，当时他也因为伤病退赛。
到目前为止，中国在伦敦奥运会上可谓成绩斐然，这得益于该国运动员在游泳等项目上的意外出色表现。本届奥运会开始前，中国代表团曾在一个新闻发布会上放风说，相比北京奥运会上100枚奖牌的成绩，中国在伦敦奥运会上的奖牌总数可能要减少32%。但在伦敦奥运会尚有五天才结束时，中国已经得到了73枚奖牌，比美国还多三枚。
周二的赛事显示出，中国运动员目前面临巨大压力。除刘翔表现令人失望外，中国包揽跳水项目金牌的梦想也破灭了，秦凯与卫冕冠军何冲分获男子个人3米板银牌和铜牌。预赛中，秦凯在倒数第二跳时失去重心，只得到了预期分数的一半。
伦敦当地时间周二早些时候刘翔摔倒后，中国互联网一下子沉浸在失望、同情甚至是不小的愤怒中。一位网友在新浪微博上说：刘翔，你如此让人失望，为什么媒体却给你这么多赞美？这番话表达了很多人共同的心情。随后，网友展开了关于刘翔摔倒与获胜重要性的争论。在他跌倒出局的20分钟里，新浪微博上共有380万条“刘翔摔倒”的信息。
中国国家媒体和刘翔的队友都为他辩护。2004年雅典奥运会上，刘翔意外摘金的表现赢得了中国人的心。新华社说他是勇敢的刘翔。
但随着伦敦奥运会迎来田径等中国传统弱项赛事，未来几天中国人的偏执情绪可能会有所增加。尽管中国在金牌榜上以微弱优势领先美国让国人无比骄傲，但这种成功也引发了关于中国结果导向性体育制度带给运动员获胜压力的讨论。
在举国体制下，运动员在年龄尚小的时候就被选拔到离家很远的国家训练中心接受训练，期待著有一天能获得奥运金牌。跳水运动员秦凯说，他从六岁开始接受训练。他说，我有时每两年才能见到家人。如果比赛日程不那么紧，我一年能和父母待上一周的时间。
秦凯说，每个运动员都有一些压力，如果你想成为优秀的运动员，就得顶住压力参赛。
上周，23岁的举重运动员吴景彪在电视机镜头前鞠躬并公开道歉，原因是他只得了一块银牌，而不是金牌。吴景彪努力控制着眼中的泪水说，我有愧于祖国，我有愧于中国举重队，有愧于所有关心我的人。对不起大家。此前不久，中国的一些报纸称17岁的中国女举重运动员周俊的比赛结果是国家最耻辱一败。
中国南部广东省的《南方都市报》说，压垮吴景彪的不仅杠铃片，金牌银牌待遇天壤之别。
本周，《中国青年报》刊登了一篇社论，呼吁瓦解举国体制。社论中写道，一个大国的崛起，是无法靠这些金属来赢得世界认同和尊重的，中国要成为真正的强国，需要有远比金牌数更深层次的价值追求。作为体育爱好者关注自己喜好的体育运动外，我们更关注那些影响着我们幸福感的公共事务。
中国在奖牌数量上的成就有助于赢得公众对“119计划”的支持。“119计划”是中国10多年前制定的战略，旨在通过加大对游泳和田径运动的投入，让中国的金牌数量领先。
目前还不清楚中国在伦敦的表现会加快还是会减缓中国奖牌至上的举国体育体制的改变。
俄亥俄大学（Ohio University）体育管理教授李明说，也许有一天，今天的奥运冠军会激发未来的奥运冠军，而后者会在中国现有的完全由政府资助的体制之外成长。人们现在越来越富有，越来越多的人开始拥有自己的爱好，比如击剑和马术。
由于感受到了压力，《北京日报》为举国体育制度进行了辩护。《北京日报》说，举国体制适合中国的发展实际，有其深刻的文化传统和国情背景。那些唱衰举国体制的论调，无非是唱衰中国论的又一变种。
For China, the weight of all that gold is starting to show.
Moments before hurdler Liu Xiang launched himself from the starting block, China's state broadcaster focused in close on the Olympic favorite as the announcer intoned, Liu is not as perfect as he used to be.
What happened next encapsulates the staggering pressure and scrutiny China's athletes face as they try to feed their nation's ravenous appetite for Olympic gold. Liu─one of the nation's most celebrated athletes─stumbled on the first hurdle a few seconds into the 110-meter men's hurdles, removing him from competition. To disappointed fans back home, it was a heartbreaking repeat of his performance four years ago in Beijing, when he withdrew early due to injury.
China has had a stellar Olympics so far, thanks to unexpectedly strong performances in sports such as swimming. The Chinese delegation warned at a press conference before the Games began that it calculated it could medal in 32% fewer events in London than it did in Beijing, when it won 100. But with five days to go in London, China already has 73 medals─three more than the U.S.
Tuesday's events showed how China's athletes are feeling the pressure. Beyond the disappointment with Liu, China also broke its gold streak in diving, as He Chong, the reigning Olympic champion, and Qin Kai won silver and bronze medals in the 3-meter springboard event. During the preliminaries, Qin had lost his balance on the penultimate dive and scored only half of what had been expected.
After Liu's failure earlier in the day, China's Internet exploded in disappointment, sympathy─and more than a little anger. Liu Xiang, you are such a disappointment, said one poster on China's popular Sina Weibo microblogging service, echoing a common sentiment, Why does the media give you so much credit? In the ensuing debate over Liu's stumble and the importance of winning, 3.8 million posts with the Chinese hashtag for Liu falls went up within 20 minutes of the race.
China's state-run media and his teammates defended Liu, who won China's heart in the 2004 Games with a surprising gold-medal performance. The Xinhua news agency called him Brave Liu.
But the crankiness back home could increase in coming days as the Olympic Games heads into events such as track and field, where China hasn't traditionally been strong. Despite tremendous pride in China's slim lead over the U.S., the success has sparked debate over the pressure China's results-driven sports system puts on winning.
That system picks athletes at young ages, grooming them for Olympic gold at national training centers, often far away from their families. Qin, the diver, said he started training at age six. Sometimes, I get to see (my family) every other year. If the competition schedule is not that tight, maybe sometimes I can spend a whole week with my parents in a year, he said.
Every athlete has some pressure, Qin said. If you want to be really good, then you have to be able to hold that pressure to perform.
Last week, 23-year-old weightlifter Wu Jingbiao publicly apologized, bowing in front of the television cameras, for bringing home a silver, not gold, medal. I feel terribly sorry for my country, China's weightlifting team and everyone that supports me, Wu said, fighting back tears. That came after some Chinese newspapers referred to 17-year-old Chinese female weightlifter Zhuo Jun as one of the country's greatest failures.
It is not the barbell that overwhelmed Wu, but a world of difference in terms of treatment toward gold medal winner and that of silver medal, said the Southern Metropolis Daily, a newspaper in China's southern Guangdong province.
An editorial written this week in the state-run China Youth Daily newspaper called for change, saying leaders have hammered hard for medals in pursuit of global recognition that could have been earned in other, more socially beneficial ways. Even from the standpoint of sports fans, we are more concerned with public affairs that affect our happiness, the China Youth Daily editorial said.
China's medals success has helped buy legitimacy in the Chinese public for the government's Project 119, a strategy developed more than a decade ago to dominate gold medals by investing in sports such as swimming and track and field.
It's not yet clear whether China's performance in London might speed up or slow down changes to its centralized, medals-focused sports system.
Li Ming, a professor of sports administration at Ohio University, says that there may be a time when the gold-medal winners of today inspire future ones who will grow outside China's current system, which relies fully on government funding to produce its Olympians. Citizens are growing wealthier and are increasingly taking up hobbies, such as fencing and equestrian sports, Li said.
Feeling the pressure, the Beijing Daily defended the state-run sports system, saying this is a system that suits China's current national situation and based on China's culture and traditions. Criticism of this system is in essence criticism of China.
