The United States won more gold medals than any other country at the Athens Olympics in 2004 with 36. China was second with 32 and Russia came third with 27 gold medals. In 2004, the United States won 20 of the 36 gold medals in just two sports - track and field and swimming. China won 21of its 32 gold medals in five disciplines - badminton, table tennis, diving, weightlifting, and shooting.

However, in 2006, Chinese athletes won 43 gold medals to 36 for the United States and 35 for Russia in top level international events. China's dominance in recent international events has led observers to conclude that China may be positioned to win more gold medals than any other country in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

In fact, the Italian Olympic Committee predicts that in Beijing 2008, China will win 45 gold medals, followed by the United States with 41 and Russia with 34. It projects the U.S. will continue to top the overall medal count with 99 medals, followed by Russia with 92 and China with 86. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, the United States had 102 total medals. Russia was second in total medals with 92. China finished third with 63 medals

China will field a team of about 550 athletes who will compete in 202 total events. The Chinese are expected to dominate in table tennis, diving, and women's weightlifting. In addition, China hopes to pick up medals in shooting, track and field, and cycling. The United States plans to send the largest Olympic team of about 600 athletes to Beijing. American athletes are expected to dominate in athletics, swimming, and aquatic sports. Americans hope to pick up medals in nontraditional disciplines like cycling, shooting, rowing, archery, and fencing.

The Chinese team will be performing in front of a hometown audience, since the games will be held in and around the city of Beijing, China. Both the Chinese and American teams have an impressive number of world class athletes that should be favored for medal consideration. For this reason, the Olympic gold medal total in Beijing 2008 should be very close between China and the United States once again.

Let's look at some of the athletes that will be featured in Beijing for the Olympic teams of China and the United States. First for the Chinese Olympic team:

Liu Xiang( Hurdler) Reigning world champion. 2004 Olympic Gold Medal

Wang Xin (Platform Diver) 2006 Gold Medal winner in the Asian Games

Lu Yong (Weightlifter) Silver Medalist in Olympic Games in 2004.

Liu Tianyou ( Men's rifle) Gold Medal Winner in 2006 Asian games

Lin Dan (Badminton) Leading singles player in the world

Han Bing (Women's Beam) Chinese Junior Champion, 2005

Xue Fei (Women's swimming) Won the women's 5,000m in the Asian Games

Zhou Chunxiu (Marathoner) is the first Chinese marathoner to win a medal in the world championships and Olympic Games.

Tian Liang ( Diver) Bronze and gold medal winner in the last two summer Olympic games

Fu Mingxia (Diver) 2004 Olympic Gold medalist and world champion

Now, let's look at some of the featured athletes for the United States Olympic team in Beijing 2008:

Michael Phelps (Swimming) Winner of eight medals (4 Gold Medals) in the 2004 Olympic Games

Jennie Finch (Softball), Pitcher for the 2004 gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic Team for softball

Aaron Peirsol (Swimming), Three-time gold medal winner at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, sweeping all three backstroke competitions

Lauryn Williams (Track & Field), 100m silver medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece

Tara Kirk (Swimming), Silver medalist in 4x100 medley relay at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games

Sada Jacobson (Fencing), First woman in U.S. history to medal (bronze) in Olympic fencing competition during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games

Tony Azevedo (Water Polo), Scored 15 goals for Team USA during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games

Ogonna Nnamani (Volleyball), Made her U.S. Olympic Team debut at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games as the youngest member of Team USA for Volleyball

Cullen Jones ((Swimming), 2007 world champion as a member of the men's 400m freestyle relay; the first African-American swimmer to break a long-course world record.

Hayley Peirsol (Swimming), One of only three women in U.S. history to break the 16-minute mark in the 1500m freestyle

In the 2004 Olympics more than half of the gold medals won by the United States were in the Olympic events of athletics, swimming, and aquatic sports. The United States needs to maintain competitive dominance in the same events as four years ago in order to win the total gold medal count in the 2008 Olympic Games. If the United States team does falter, it may well result in China capturing more Olympic gold medals than any other country in the world. For the host country of the 2008 Olympics, that outcome would be Olympic gold indeed.

(For More on the 2008 Olympics, see "The Games Of The XXIX Olympiad in the International Journal on eWorldvu.)

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