BEIJING — Last week, China took delivery of the gold medals it expects to award in 28 sports at the Beijing Olympics next month. If it has its way, many will remain in China.
Hungering for gold, particularly if you're the host of the Aug. 8-24 Games, is hardly unusual. What distinguishes China is the intensity of its quest for gold, backed up by military rigor, buckets of money, one of the world's last remaining Soviet-style sports programs and a desire to gain "face" with the international community.
The Middle Kingdom is on a tear. Its economy is roaring, migrants are restless and the country is awash in complex social problems. Winning gold is seen as a way to unite the Chinese people behind the government and Communist Party.
Topping the U.S. in the gold-medal count also fuels its dream of one day eclipsing the world's sole superpower in broader political, economic and diplomatic arenas. Officially, China is careful to downplay its gold-medal and long-term national ambitions.
"Beating the West at its own game would be particularly pleasing," said Susan Brownell, professor of anthropology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and author of "Beijing's Games: What the Olympics Mean to China." "Driving it is a feeling of being victimized by the West and a desire to regain what it sees as its rightful place on the world stage."
Although China has maintained a Soviet-style sports program since the mid-1950s, diplomatic isolation kept it from winning its first gold medal (in shooting) until the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. It bounced through much of the 1980s and 1990s with modest results before winning 28 golds in Sydney in 2000 and 32 in Athens in 2004.
Bookies in Australia and England give China a slight lead in topping the gold-medal count while PricewaterhouseCoopers -- the official Olympics auditor -- taps China to win the overall medal count with 88, one more than the United States.
"I think it's going to be China's year, that they'll top the gold-medal table with 44 to 46 golds," said Simon Shibli, head of the Sport Industry Research Center at England's Sheffield Hallam University.
Not everyone agrees. Luciano Barra, former head of Italy's Olympic Committee and an expert in medal counting, projects 49 gold medals for the U.S. and 38 for China. "Personally, I'm convinced the U.S. will be stronger than China," he said. "The individual athletes are much more motivated."
