BEIJING

Like a lot of athletes here, Kevin Tan sticks close to the Olympic village and his training sites. He spends most of his time with his U.S. men's gymnastics teammates.

Still, like the thousands of competitors and spectators visiting China for the first time, he hopes to work in a little sightseeing.

"I would really like to visit a few of the places around Beijing -- the Great Wall, the Forbidden City," Tan said yesterday. "There's so many things here that I've heard about and would love to see. Hopefully, I get a chance to do that."

Tan, though, is not your average visitor here.

Sure, he has aspirations of going home with a medal in the rings.

He has been building toward the 2008 Games for years after winning NCAA individual championships in 2003 and '04, being part of a national team championship in '04 and earning six All-America honors at Penn State. He won the rings event at the Olympic trials and is the U.S. rings champion three years running. Last year, he was fourth at the world championships.

And, of course, he is intrigued by this land half a world away from America.

The added element for Tan is his ancestry. Consider that his given name is Tan Kai Wen. His father, Peter, is from China. His mother, Vicky, who died in 2000, was from Taiwan.

"To kind of see my traditions and heritage, it's been a tremendous experience for me," said Tan, 26.

"I knew this was a possibility and, as that goal came closer and closer, I definitely started getting excited for it, knowing that this could be not only my first Olympics, but also because it's in Beijing."

Tan's parents moved to California before he was born. Peter Tan has been back several times.

"Coming back to China is one thing, and then having the Olympics in Beijing, he's very, very excited," Tan said of his father. "He's been that way for a month now."

Despite the expected curiosity about Beijing, Kevin Tan surprisingly has little information about his roots in China.

He doesn't know what part of the country his father is from. He has relatives here, but he doesn't know how many might be coming to the Olympics or whether he will meet them.

That's not because Peter Tan has neglected teaching his son about China.

"I think he's kind of letting me figure it out for myself," Tan said. "I guess we never really talked about it. I guess we talked more about the Olympic Games and how excited he is, that sort of stuff."

One of the top nations waiting to butt heads with the United States in men's gymnastics is China. On a more individual level, one of Tan's top obstacles is China's Chen Yibing, who has won the rings in the past two world championships.

That's fertile ground for some extra motivation or a little inner turmoil if you dabble in some pop psychology, but that's not how Tan rolls.

He smiled when asked about taking on gymnasts from his father's homeland and giggled when someone suggested he could pull a billion Chinese fans -- a bit more than the large cheering section in State College, where he is a Nittany Lions assistant coach -- into his corner with an inspired performance.

Tan is all about the rings.

"I'm very confident with my routine and just really looking forward to competing in it," he said.

Tan, the men's team captain, said he's no longer bothered by a thumb strain he got when he caught it on the pommel horse that limited him as recently as last month.

Men's gymnastics opens Saturday with qualifiers. Team finals are Tuesday, the rings final Aug. 18.

Tan blossomed on the rings at Penn State. It could be China, a country with special meaning for him, where he and his story grab at least a portion of the biggest gymnastics stage.

One thing Tan won't be able to do is tell his story to the Chinese people in their language. He speaks a little Mandarin, the dialect spoken in Beijing.

"I've been able to kind of get around, but beyond that I can't carry a full conversation," said Tan. "A lot of the reaction I get is just kind of a smile. I'm trying."

He had to beg off attempting to do an interview in Chinese with a local reporter.

Asked to at least say something, Tan flew through a Chinese phrase everyone here should know, and then laughed.

It meant, "Where's the bathroom?"

"That's always a key one," Tan said.

Here's an even bigger translation for Tan: Weeks or years from now, after he has had a chance to step away from the blinders-like mind-set of an athlete in training, it will sink in just how significant this trip was.