China's blueprint for medals falling short

 BEIJING: 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.

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