Beijing Olympians - History

History

For two seasons (1999–2000 and 2000–01) they were known as Vanguard Aoshen (Chinese: 前卫奥神); this team represented a merger between Vanguard (Chinese: 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 (Chinese: 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 "北京奥盛").

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 (Chinese: 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.