Olympics: Chinese medal hopes dwindle

BEIJING - With record-breaking swimmers floundering in the pool and the "Ma family army" of women distance runners in slow step, China may struggle to achieve its Olympic goals this year.

Many top Chinese athletes have under-performed in recent qualifying competitions, prompting a wave of criticism in state newspapers and a bout of soul-searching among coaches and sports officials.

Chinese sports chiefs have set their team a target of 16 gold medals at the Olympics in Sydney in September, the same tally that put them in fourth place on the medals table at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

But Chinese Olympic Committee secretary-general Tu Mingde said China could struggle to match its performance in Atlanta.

"Of course we hope to do better than fourth place, but that looks very difficult," Tu said yesterday. "To maintain fourth place we need to get more than 16 golds, and that could be a huge task."

Of most concern for the sports chiefs is the mediocre form of the swimming team, who have failed to live up to record-breaking victories in the early 1990s since seven Chinese swimmers failed dope tests at the Asian Games in Japan in 1994.

The national swimming championships and an Olympic qualifier in Jinan in May failed to produce the usual slew of new records or any new challengers for places on the medal podium.

China's swimming team are aiming for a modest goal of just one gold, their lowest target in a decade, according to state media.

Wu Yanyan, the women's 200m individual medley specialist, was the only one to make waves in the Jinan pool, clocking her best time since she won gold in the event with a world record at the 1998 world championships in Perth.

National athletics trials in Jinzhou this month were equally underwhelming.

Ma's team of middle and long-distance runners were the only notable performers, sweeping the medals in the women's 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m.

But none came close to the string of world records set in 1993 after their successes at the Stuttgart world championships.

Shang Xiutang, secretary-general of the China Athletics Association, said China aimed to win just one track and field gold, in the women's 20km walk.

Beijing is banking on its gymnasts, divers, table tennis players and weightlifters to haul in the golds.

China's saving grace could be the inclusion of women's weightlifting in the Olympics for the first time. Officials have said they expect to win five weightlifting golds.

- REUTERS

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