After four month of recuperation from a bone fracture in his foot, Yao Ming seems ready to be geared up for the Olympics. China will face off against the USA’s NBA stars on August 10. (He definitely looks better than he did at his press conference a couple months ago.) Good to hear the big man is ready to start training again in mid-July.

Yao Ming also spent some time talking about the China quake. He did a PSA for the China quake just weeks after the tragic event. The Yao Ming Foundation is one of the other ways that he is helping the quake relief efforts.

Watch Yao Ming talk about the Olympics and the China Earthquake.

Hours before the 2008 NBA draft, the Milwaukee Bucks traded forwards Yi Jianlian (who was the sixth overall pick in the 2007 draft) and Bobby Simmons to the New Jersy Nets in exchange for small forward Richard Jefferson. (Chinese officials got what they fought so hard for last year: Yi Jianlian in a major city with a larger Chinese population.) The word is that New Jersey did the deal not for the potential of Yi Jianlian, but for the salary cap relief it provides in the year 2010, when franchise players like LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade enter the free agent market. Yi made 49 starts and played in 66 games, averaging 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds.

Despite these rumors, the New Jersey Nets marketing department wasted no time promoting Yi Jianlian. They plastered Yi’s image when you try to go to the Nets website. The offer “Buy a season ticket, Get a Free Yi jersey.” If you don’t want the season ticket, you can pre-order Yi’s #9 jersey. Yi Jianlian’s got more play than the Nets first round draft pick Brook Lopez. From looking at the Nets website, you wouldn’t even know he got picked.

We can see it now. Nets owner Jay-Z wearing a Yi jersey on the sidelines. If you can’t wait to see Yi play , you can catch him playing for China in the Olympics.

Yi Jianlian vs Yao Ming

USA Gymnastics today announced the six men and three replacement athletes it will nominate to the U.S. Olympic Committee to comprise the 2008 U.S. Olympic Men’s Gymnastics Team. The members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Men’s Gymnastics Team are:

Joe Hagerty, Rio Ranchero, N.M./Team Chevron

Morgan Hamm, Waukesha, Wis./Team Chevron

Paul Hamm, Waukesha, Wis./Team Chevron

Jonathan Horton, Houston/Team Chevron

Justin Spring, Burke, Va./Team Chevron

Kevin Tan, Fremont, Calif./Team Chevron

The three replacement athletes are:

Alexander Artemev, Lakewood, Colo./Team Chevron

Raj Bhavsar, Houston/Team Chevron

David Durante, Garwood, N.J./Team Chevron

Watch analysis of the Men’s US Olympic Gymnastics Team

If you missed the competition, you can see the Kevin Tan’s highlights online.

According to the Associated Press, Yao Ming wants the Chinese Olympics Basketball team to advance from pool play into the quarterfinals of the Olympics. China was drawn into a tough group and their top two players (Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian) are recovering from injuries.

If Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian are healthy, China will have a strong presence on the court. Yao Ming had surgery in March to repair a stress fracture in his left foot and said his rehab is on schedule. Yao Ming last played Feb. 24 and said he needs to play in “a couple” of exhibition games with the Chinese this summer before they face the US team on Aug. 10. Yi Jianlian missed the final eight games of the regular season with a sprained ligament in his left knee. Hopefully, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian get better in time for the Olympics.

Yao Ming was hobbling at this press conference in April: