Agence France-Presse . Beijing

China stepped up the psychological warfare ahead of the Olympics on Wednesday, downplaying hopes of a host nation triumph in the medal standings ahead of the United States.

‘A lot of people are saying we are the hosts, so we should be number one on the gold medals table, but this is unrealistic,’ said Cui Dalin, vice minister of sports.

‘A lot of people have big expectations of our athletes,’ said Cui, speaking on the sidelines of China’s ongoing parliamentary session.

‘We were number two in the gold medal table at Athens and we are hosting the Beijing Games, but in fact we face very serious competition.’

The United States topped the gold medal table at the Athens Olympics in 2004 with 36. China was second with 32 and Russia came third with 27.

Home advantage is traditionally a help and China is expected to get a big enough boost to possibly overtake the United States this time round.

Cui, however, insisted China was falling further behind its biggest rivals.

‘At Athens, overall the United States won 103 medals, Russia had 92 and China only had 63. This is to say we lag way behind.’

China’s advantages in traditional sports like table tennis, badminton, diving, weightlifting and taekwondo have also eroded in recent years, while the nation’s athletes remain inconsistent in sports where they have only had periodic success, he said.

In the major sports of athletics and swimming, where a total of 81 gold medals will be up for grabs in Beijing, China has always been traditionally very weak, Cui said.

‘At the last world athletics championships, the United States won 14 gold medals and at the world swimming championships they won 17 gold medals,’ he added.

‘This is to say, last year in the world championships in these two sports, the US won over 31 gold medals. This nearly equals the 32 gold medals that we won at Athens, so in these sports Chinese athletes are still far behind.’

To make matters worse, he said that several events in which China had done well in the past were no longer in the Olympics, while rule changes in other sports like shooting, sailing, table tennis, weightlifting and diving would work against them.

Cui said that even home advantage could also work against the Chinese when the Games begin in August.

‘Being host is not always good, it will also bring a lot of pressure to our athletes, especially when their parents, relatives and friends are watching,’ he said.

Steven Roush, the US Olympic Committee’s chief of sports performance, said on a visit to Beijing last year that the Chinese were ahead in Olympic preparations and the US team were preparing for a big challenge to hold top spot at the Games.

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