China was thrashed in their elimination game with Lithuania 94-68 on Wednesday. The Chinese finished 8th in the Olympics, similar to how they finished in the 1996 and 2004 Games.

Yao Ming was double-teamed and hacked most of the game, but he still managed to score 19 points and grab 7 rebounds in the most action he’s had (33 1/2 minutes) during the entire Olympics.

No one really thought the Chinese would contend for a medal, but it’s still a bummer to see them go out like this. Now in question is Yao’s participation with the Chinese team leading up to the 2012 Olympics in London.

“That is four years away,” Yao said later. “In 2004, I thought that 2008 was far away. Now I look at 2012 and maybe it doesn’t look so far. But since 2004, I have had three major surgeries.”

Click here for more photos from the game.

Click here for the story on the game.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 8:24 am and is filed under 2008 Beijing Olympics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.