China looks to overtake U.S. in Olympic glory

China looks to overtake U.S. in Olympic glory

Long before the opening ceremonies, the 2008 Olympics delivered plenty of drama.

Political conflict, international protest, environmental fears and a calamitous earthquake battered China as it prepared to host its first Olympic Games.

On Friday, the Games begin.

For 17 days, the focus will finally fall on the athletes as they battle for Olympic gold and national glory.

For the Americans, this year's Games will be a test as the world's athletic power tries to maintain its position as the leading Olympic nation. U.S. athletes set a string of world records at recent qualifying events and again have their sights on dominating the Games.

The Chinese, meanwhile, are planning to steal the spotlight.

The United States hasn't faced a serious rival in the Summer Games since the Cold War era's fierce competition with Eastern Bloc countries.

In the seven years since Beijing landed the chance to host the Games, China has sought out the best training in the world, building up its teams to capitalize on the home-field advantage.

Over the past three Games, the country has steadily improved from fourth place to second behind the United States in the gold medal standings.

Now, even American Olympics officials say, China is poised to overtake the U.S. in the medal race.

While competition is the main event, questions and controversy about China remain. Some experts worry that the air pollution that chokes Beijing's skies will hamper the athletes. China's government will face more questions about its human-rights record.

The other elements of Olympic glory also will be on display. The stunning architectural designs of the Olympic facilities will face the world, taking their place among the venues of Olympic history.

And the competition could be more compelling than anything in the past two decades.

China rising

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, China was only four medals behind the U.S. in gold. In the 2006 world championships, China won more golds than any team in the world.

China expects to dominate the Games in its traditionally strong Olympic sports: diving, gymnastics, weightlifting, table tennis, badminton, shooting. At the same time, it has put money, time and effort into building up teams in other sports, including swimming, track, archery, cycling, rowing, canoe/kayak and women's wrestling.

The experts have seen this rise in Chinese athletic power coming.

Part of winning the medal race is population. China, with more than 1.3 billion people, is the world's most populous nation. Small countries can focus on key sports, but large countries have enough athletes and trainers to dominate across the board.

Beyond that, "it's all a numbers game; they've infused large amounts of resources behind their sports program," says Steve Roush, the U.S. Olympic Committee's chief of sport performance. "It's a matter of national pride for them," he says. "They've hired the world's best coaches to come in and coach their coaches for future generations."

While the American team has been bracing for it, China's rise may be a shock for more casual observers.

"Never has a society attached so much ambition, so much desire for identity to the Olympics as the Chinese," says Jim Lampley, anchor of NBC's afternoon coverage. "It's going to be very hard for American athletes to hold back the tide. Most Americans don't have a clue that's about to happen. They think (basketball star) Yao Ming is some kind of anomaly and don't understand he is representative of the largest talent pool. The drama is going to take a lot of Americans enormously by surprise."

Americans on a mission

U.S. athletes remain at the forefront in the iconic Olympic sports.

Americans set world records at swimming trials and turned in great performances in track and gymnastics trials in June and July. Nine world records were set at the swim trials, including two by Michael Phelps.

Phelps will command attention the first week of the Games as he pursues an Olympic legend. He will try to break Mark Spitz's 1972 record of winning seven gold medals.

If Phelps does that, given the competition in China, he will be in a league of his own.

"The difference between the competition Phelps faces and the competition Spitz faced is like the difference between trying out for the junior-high football team and the NFL," Lampley says.

In another perennial Olympic favorite sport, the U.S. women's gymnastics team is favored to win the gold. Shawn Johnson is the 2007 World all-around champion, and the U.S. women also won the team gold medal.

Arizona can claim a connection to about 70 athletes, coaches and support staffs, both on the U.S. team and other delegations. Those stories are wildly diverse:


• Basketball magnate Jerry Colangelo, who put together the staff and members of the U.S. men's basketball program, hopes to help lead the team back to a gold medal.


• Tucson resident Bernard Lagat, who has won medals as a Kenyan, will make a bid for two track golds in his first Olympics as an American.


• University of Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea will lead the U.S. team as softball makes its last Olympic appearance before being out of the Games in 2012.


• Swimmer Amanda Beard, who went to UA and lived in Tucson, will see her fourth Olympics.


• Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter, of Phoenix's women's professional basketball team, the Mercury, could face off against their own teammate Penny Taylor in a U.S.-Australia gold-medal basketball game.


• Arizonans Jim Lefebvre and Bruce Hurst are coaching the Chinese baseball team.

Let the Games begin

Every Olympics brings memorable venues, settings and moments. Beijing will have its own.

All 6.8 million tickets for the Olympics are sold, making Beijing the first sold-out Olympics. The television coverage will be ubiquitous. NBC Universal is spreading a record 3,600 hours of coverage over seven television networks and online. That is 1,000 more than the combined coverage of every Summer Olympics in U.S. history, beginning with Rome in 1960.

Even with the time difference - Beijing is 15 hours ahead of Phoenix - 2,900 of those hours will be broadcast live, including all 32 swimming finals, the team and individual finals in gymnastics and both marathons.

Then there are the settings themselves.

The main Beijing venues are architectural wonders that will rival the country's landmarks such as the Great Wall.

The eye-popping National Aquatics Center is known as the Water Cube, with its walls a shimmering image of bubbles. National Stadium, known as the Bird'sNest for its crisscrossing steel girders, will host the track events and men's soccer final.

The stadium also will host more than 10,000 athletes and officials from 205 countries for the opening ceremonies.

The Games begin Friday.