Yao said he has one friend who lives in the central Sichuan province most affected by the magnitude 7.9 quake that hit May 12. His friend called him three days later to say he was OK.

"It's really sad over there," Yao said. "His city is affected, but not major damage. But after a couple of minutes he said. 'I've got to go. The house is shaking again."'

Yao was expected to be play an ambassador's role this summer as his country prepares to host the Olympics for the first time.

Determined to be ready to lead his country's basketball team, Yao has been busy rehabilitating his left foot after undergoing surgery in March to repair a stress fracture. The injury caused him to miss the final two months of the NBA season.

Yao began running last week and said he's pain-free. He hopes to begin playing in some light-contact basketball scrimmages in a couple of weeks. Yao says he remains on schedule to play in a couple of exhibition games before China's Olympic opener against the United States on August 10.

"I don't want to push that too much because we need to do that in a safe way, but the Olympics are only 70-some days to go," Yao said.

The earthquake tragedy has tempered China's nationwide celebration. The Olympic torch relay was halted briefly and shortened, and Yao is particularly concerned about the schools that were damaged or destroyed.

"No. 1 right now is to save people's lives," Yao said. "On May 12 people forgot about the Olympics. People forgot about the torch. Let's focus the government and the people on saving as many lives as we can.

"We still lost a lot. We will limit the celebration a little bit because of those we lost."