China’s Olympic plan to topple America

BBC television reported recently - ­ in shocked tones - how the Chinese team came from nowhere at the World Cup rowing regatta in June to shame their British counterparts. Rowing was not an event for which the Chinese had any reputation, while the Brits are world class. What on earth was going on?

Well, the Beeb and other sceptical Western media had better get used to it. China has its heart set on topping the medals table in the upcoming Olympics. Most important, they aim to beat the United States, which for sporting China is the only nation worth defeating.

For the past seven years, China's communist authorities have been running an intensive training programme reminiscent of the Soviet Union's methods - and goal of global domination - during the Cold War era. Unprecedented military discipline, huge

sporting budgets, state-of-the-art foreign technology and proven international coaches have all been incorporated into what the Chinese call 'Project 119'.

Launched in 2001, Project 119 was named after the number of gold medals then offered in track and field, swimming and other water-based events like rowing, in which China was traditionally weak. (The number of golds in those sports has since increased to 122, but the project name has stuck.)

It goes back to the 2000 Games in Sydney when China won just one gold in Project 119 disciplines. An opportunity was spotted: if China could improve in these areas, it might clean up overall. "The State General Sports Bureau put forward Project 119 with the aim of making big breakthroughs in those events," Cui Dalin, deputy director of the General Administration of Sport Swimming, told Newsweek