Beijing Olympians

Infobox Sports team
color1 = white
color2 = black

pixels = 150px
founded = 1999
league = CBA 1999-2004
ABA 2005-present
history = Aoshen Olympians
1999-present
arena = Traveling team
city = Singapore
colors = Yellow, White, and Red
owner = George Pickering
coach = Lashun McDaniel
championships = 0
titles = 1
cheerleaders = Olympian Girls
dancers =
mascot =

Beijing Aoshen Olympian (北京奥神) or Beijing Olympian or Beijing Olympians or Beijing Aoshen are a basketball team that formerly played in the Chinese Basketball Association and now play in the American Basketball Association in Singapore. Some sources refer to them (slightly ungrammatically) as Beijing Olympician. They should not be confused with the Beijing Ducks, which is a different team.

In the 2003-04 season, they finished 7th out of 12 teams in the CBA regular season, and were eliminated in the quarter-finals by the Jiangsu Dragons. They were disqualified from play for the 2004-05 season (see below), and although it was intended that they would return for the 2005-06 season, negotiations to rejoin the league broke down at the end of June 2005.

Beijing Aoshen Olympian joined the new American Basketball Association for the 2005-06 season and played in the Spencer Haywood Division of the Red Conference. In their inaugural season in the ABA they played their home games in Maywood, California rather than Beijing. In 2006-07, the team moved to the Felix Events Center at Azusa Pacific University, former home of the SoCal Legends, who switched their affiliation to the Continental Basketball Association, and relocated to Thousand Oaks. For the 2007-08 season, the team moved again, this time to Singapore.

History

For two seasons (1999–2000 and 2000-01) they were known as Vanguard Aoshen (前卫奥神); this team represented a merger between Vanguard (前卫万燕) and the then-existing Beijing Aoshen team. Occasionally the name Qianwei Aoshen was used instead (here, the word "qianwei" for "vanguard" is transliterated rather than translated). After that, however, the team used the Beijing Aoshen name once again.

The Vanguard team had a long history. It was founded in the 1950s and had some success over the years. The team played in the first CBA season in 1995-96, but finished last out of 12 teams and left the CBA. Meanwhile, the original Beijing Aoshen team was formed in 1997 as Beijing Aosheng (北京奥胜), and in 1998 won the "B" league championship to win promotion to the CBA. Soon after that they represented China in the Asian club championship, changing their name to Aoshen at the start of that competition, which they won (some media reports at the time incorrectly gave their name as 奥盛).

The newly promoted Beijing Aoshen then made their CBA debut in the 1998-99 season. A key player on the team was Ma Jian. In an unprecedented move, they hired a female coach, Li Xin (李昕), but she was fired after only five games and replaced by Mike McGee, a former member of the Los Angeles Lakers, who became the first non-Chinese coach in the CBA. Aoshen finished fourth and lost in the semi-finals to the Bayi Rockets.

The following season, they merged with Vanguard, but struggled and finished sixth. In 2000-01 they continued to struggle: Ma Jian was dropped from the team in mid-season and they finished seventh. So far, they have never equaled their first-year performance.

2004-2005 suspension

On May 17 2004, the Beijing Olympians were suspended from the CBA for a year for refusing to release Sun Yue to the national under-20 team. On May 25 2004 the CBA announced that the winner of the 2004 CBL season would be promoted to the CBA to take the Olympians' place; that team turned out to be the Yunnan Bulls.

While under suspension from the CBA, Aoshen played a seven-game tour in Taiwan against each team of the SBL, sweeping all seven games. [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-02/18/content_417346.htm]

2005-2006

It was intended that the Olympians would return to the CBA for the 2005-06 season, as the CBA expanded from 14 teams to 16, but negotiations broke down and the league only expanded to 15 teams. ( [http://www.china.org.cn/english/sports/134632.htm] )

As "Beijing Aoshen Olympian", they joined the new American Basketball Association for the 2005-06 season.

Notable players

*Ma Jian
*Sun Yue - the young tall guard at 6'9" is one of the tallest guards in the world. His development will be one of the keys to whether the Chinese national team wins any Olympic medals in the future. He is the 40th pick overall in the 2007 NBA draft and has been signed to a multi-year contract with LA Lakers.
*Zhang Song Tao - the strong 7" center is a potential backup for Yao Ming on the national team
*Huang Haibei 2006 ABA all-star
*Paul Shirley - Former Iowa State and NBA player, and columnist for ESPN.com

External links

* [http://www.aoshenbasketball.com/index.html Official Site]
* [http://www.abalive.com/teams/teampage.cgi?teamid=CN ABA Site for the Club]