07/08/07 03h28 GMT+1
AFP News brief
China’s blueprint for Olympic medals falling short
by Charles Whelan
Just one year away from the Beijing Olympics, all is apparently far from well with Chinese sport amid concerns that its own athletes might not step up to the mark.
Project 119 – China’s blueprint for dominance at the Olympics – has come unstuck, according to officials, who fear the nationalistic Chinese public may be badly disappointed when the August 8-24 Games roll around.
The plan entails shifting the focus away from China’s niche programmes such as table tennis and diving and toward the big three Olympic medal sports – athletes, swimming and competition on water.
The theory is that China cannot win more medals in sports it already monopolises, but can make inroads in the big three which hold the key to more than one third of all Olympic medals.
But that progress is still a long way off, and officials say Chinese athletes are falling further behind the world’s best.
“Every way you look at it we are far behind,” said Cui Dalin, the vice president of China’s Olympic Committee and an assistant sports minister.
China came second behind the United States in the gold medal count at the last Olympics in Athens in 2004 and the pressure is on for the home team to top the table next time round.
But Cui said the bar was set too high for 2008 and the team was more likely to be competing among the second tier nations such as Japan, Germany and Australia rather than for top spot.
The United States and other Olympic teams preparing for the 2008 Games see things differently.
In February the British Olympic Association said China would top the medal count by 11 golds if the Olympics were held then. The US Olympic Committee says that based on 2006 world championship results, China is far and away the Games favourite on home soil next year.
There is no doubt China has had some outstanding successes in diversifying its sporting achievements – NBA star Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets and 110m hurdles world record holder Liu Xiang, China’s first male Olympic track gold medallist, are living proof.
Gold medals in canoeing and tennis at the Athens Games illustrate the broadening of China’s elite sports programmes.
But a swimmers’ revolt after the world championships in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this year shows the difficulties China does face in preparing to challenge the Americans next year.
China’s swimming team were earmarked for special attention under project 119 – a scheme adopted by Chinese sports officials prior to the Athens event.
China won one gold medal in Athens, by women’s 100m breaststroke champion Luo Xuejuan, who has since been forced to retire because of a heart ailment. Nobody has stepped up as a likely winner for 2008.
In the men’s 200m butterfly Wu Peng was the only medallist at the Melbourne world championships in April, winning silver behind US sensation Michael Phelps who set a new world record in the race.
“When you have someone who came second, you think, maybe he can do one better and win the gold,” said Cui. “But not when you are second to Phelps.”
Under a cloud after the worlds, several Chinese swimmers publicly criticized the country’s outdated coaching methods in a breach of discipline rarely seen in China.
Several swimmers, including Wu, said they wanted to go abroad to train for the Beijing Games.
In athletics, China won two track golds in 2004 and are not certain to match that in 2008, let alone exceed it.
Even world record holder Liu Xiang in the men’s 110m hurdles could not be counted on to deliver gold.
“Can he win the gold? It’s a risky bet,” said Cui. “Anything can happen over such a short distance – a bad start, hitting a hurdle, anything like that.”