BEIJING - China's sports authority is lowering medal expectations and offering counseling for athletes as pressure mounts on the hosts to succeed at Olympic Games in August.
Deputy Sports Minister Cui Dalin acknowledged that the Chinese public holds high hopes for the country's athletes to top the medal tallies in Beijing. On Wednesday, he offered a long list of reasons why that likely won't happen.
"We've got to take a pretty sober, objective view toward this. Overall, we're not a big sporting nation," Cui told delegates to China's main government advisory body.
Like China, the US has been downplaying its chances in Beijing, an apparent strategy to reduce pressure on athletes. Historically, however, the host nation has enjoyed a boost in the medal tally.
Although China was second in golds at the 2004 Games in Athens, it was a distant third in the overall medal tally, he pointed out. Chinese athletes are offered powerful inducements for winning performances, from entry into elite universities to lucrative endorsement deals.
In dampening medal expectations, Cui cited challenges ranging from rule changes to limited growth prospects in sports that China already dominates, such as diving, table tennis and badminton. Meanwhile, China has recently fallen further behind top nations in medal-rich sports, such as athletics and swimming, that hold the key to topping the tallies, he said.
China is also weak in three popular balls sports: soccer — "very disappointing," Cui said; basketball — "not so good"; and volleyball — "only the women show much promise."
"In the competition altogether, the United States and Russia are still well above our level," Cui said.
Chinese athletes are under pressure from the public, with invasive media coverage making things worse, Cui said.
Trainers were ramping-up athletes' mental preparations by hiring psychologists to provide counseling, he said, without giving details.
Sports psychology remains largely unknown in China, with most coaches merely telling their athletes to "chi ku," or "eat bitterness."
In one bright spot, Cui said authorities were cheered by news that NBA All Star center Yao Ming was expected to be fit to play for China despite suffering a season-ending foot injury.
Cui laughed, however, when asked to offer a prediction for China's medal haul.
"The beautiful thing about athletic competition is that you never know the result until the competition is over," he said.
