PARIS: China arrive at the Paris Olympics expecting the torrent of gold medals that has become common for the Asian sporting powerhouse in recent decades but with the shadow of a doping row hanging over the delegation.
The team could win as many as 34 golds and 86 total medals in Paris, according to Nielsen's Gracenote projections released on Tuesday, and could pose a threat to American hopes of topping the table for the fourth straight Summer Games.
China brought 405 athletes to compete in 236 events in Paris, their largest for a Summer Olympics outside the country.
The country has won a total of 263 gold medals since shooter Xu Haifeng won the first at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, when China was finally welcomed into the Summer Games fold.
Diving, shooting, swimming, table tennis, artistic gymnastics and badminton are the key medal-winning sports but Gracenote predicts top contenders in 20 other sports.
Gracenote uses a statistics model based on available results data from key global and continental competitions since the previous Games in Tokyo.
China's Olympic ambitions, however, have been overshadowed by a doping row that implicated 23 of its swimmers, many of whom are competing in Paris.
The 23 swimmers tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), a medication that increases blood flow to the heart in competitions before the Tokyo Olympics, but were later cleared by a Chinese investigation, which said they were inadvertently exposed to the drug through contamination.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) did not find any wrongdoing in its own investigation of the cases, triggering a U.S. investigation and wider suspicions from swimmers in other countries.
China has repeatedly denied the doping allegations.
A spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry, when asked about the U.S. investigation into the doping scandal at a regular briefing on July 10, said China trusts the conclusion reached by the independent Swiss prosecutor and supports WADA's governance.
"This non-existent case that the U.S. keeps selling and the attacks it hurls at the international organization are all about degrading fine Chinese athletes and obstructing their participation in the Paris Olympics," the spokesperson said.
China's Chef de Mission Gao Zhidan, who is also the sports minister, said at a delegation departure ceremony earlier this month that China would aim to make sure there is zero doping incidents during the Paris Olympics.
The Olympic Games is usually one of China's top national events, attracting hundreds of millions of viewers at home who hope to celebrate the country's top performing athletes with great anticipation and patriotism.
The doping row, which comes at a time when China's relations with the U.S. and EU have been fraught with geopolitical and trade tensions, has chilled the mood of some sports fans back home.
Many on social media are also ridiculing Paris for offering no air-conditioners and very basic food options in the Olympic Village, which the city did to protect the environment.
"If Paris had consulted with each delegation and see who might need what, it would have been better," said Hu Xijin, the former chief editor of local paper Global Times, on Weibo.
"But Paris is a bit 'haughty' - 'I'm the host therefore I should play by my rules'... Not only will athletes not have air conditioners, they will also sleep in cardboard beds and eat mostly vegetarian food cos I want the Olympics to be a big lesson for green living'," Hu said. - Reuters