(Beijing, May 24) In the men's 200m first round on the third day of the "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 China Athletics Open, 35-year-old veteran Patrick Johnson from Australia clocked 21.56 seconds to advance to the semifinals. This was his first competition this year and he believed that he will come to the Bird's Nest again in August for the Olympic Games.

Sweating all over, the Australian veteran appeared quite relaxed after the race and predicted his result would be around 21 seconds. Commenting on his performance, he said lightly, "It's pretty easy."

In 2004, Patrick Johnson participated in the Athens Olympic Games and helped the Australian team gain a sixth place in the 4x100m relay. Talking about why he was still competing at 35, he said he loved sprint and he mainly trained in his spare time.

After the China Open, he added, he would go to Europe for further training and competition. The selection of the Australian track and field team for the 2008 Olympic Games has not finished yet and he believed he still had the chance to make it, either for the individual event or relay event. Looking forward to the Beijing Olympics, Johnson predicted the Australian team would be able to improve their performance if they could maintain their best form.

According to Patrick Johnson, on the Australian team here in Beijing for the current China Open, there are four men athletes who have participated in the Olympic Games, one of whom is Daniel Batman who had also competed in the 200m first round. Daniel Batman was only 18 years old when he participated in the men's 400m at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. Now he has switched to 200m.