http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/sports/olympics/26china.html

In China, people wait for gold medals to roll in from the Olympic Winter Games. Ski manufacturers wait for a growing Chinese middle class to flock to newly constructed slopes. The Chinese Olympic committee waits for a Swedish coach to transform its cross-country ski team and for speedskaters training in Canada to dominate their events.

Outside China, the world waits to see whether the country will become as big a force in the Winter Games as it has become in the Summer Games, where it is not only poised to play host to the next Olympics in 2008, but may also dominate the medal count after spending the past decade building a summer sports machine.

But China has approached its winter sports methodically instead of rushing toward all-out dominance. It has picked particular sports, even specific events, in which it can develop champions. In figure skating, it concentrates on the pairs. In speedskating, it specializes in short-track events or the sprints in long track. It is working hard to build a cross-country program and has developed two strong freestyle aerials skiers. Each of them won a medal here: Han Xiaopeng won China's first skiing gold in the men's aerials Thursday, a day after Li Nina won silver in the women's.

China has won nine medals in Turin: a gold and a silver in aerials; the silver and bronze in pairs skating; a gold and two bronze in short-track speedskating; and a silver and a bronze in the women's 500-meter long-track race. Chinese Olympic officials, despite repeated requests, have not discussed how they feel about their Winter Games performance, although they have scheduled a news conference for Sunday.

Observers of their winter sports programs see the Chinese emphasizing quality over quantity.

"They are very selective about what they devote their energy and their resources to," said Steve Roush, the chief of sport performance for the United States Olympic Committee, who monitors China's progress. "They seem to be wary of spreading themselves too thin."

Finding a niche, or a few niches, is not an unusual strategy for the Winter Games. In fact, it is the norm. Except for countries like the United States, Russia and Canada, most have a sport or two in which their athletes excel.

The Dutch have made speedskating a franchise, and their best skaters enjoy rock-star status. The Finns are wild about ski jumping. Austrians believe they own Alpine skiing. For South Koreans, short-track speed skating is king, and Norwegians idolize their cross-country skiers.

Which sport these countries spend the most money on becomes an easy choice. Koreans begin recruiting short-track skaters in grade school and put the most promising youngsters in sports academies with top-level coaching. Hyo Jung Kim left the system in part because coaches discouraged her from pursuing her education. Because she has dual citizenship, she moved to the United States and became a member of the United States Olympic team.

The sports academy system helped China develop many of its summer athletes, particularly gymnasts and divers. At the 2004 Summer Games, China won 63 medals, which was third behind the United States and Russia. That included 32 gold medals, which was behind only the American total of 35. That was a jump from 2000, when the Chinese won 59 medals, 28 of them gold.

But winter sports are relatively new to the Chinese. It does not snow in much of the southern half of the country. Only a few ski resorts exist in the north, and the weather can be harsh.

"Summer is huge," said Li Yan, a United States short-track speedskating coach, who won a silver medal for China in the 500 meters in 1992, when short track became an Olympic sport. "Winter is kind of like little, compared to summer. But, yes, it will get bigger and bigger. I think so."

Li took up speedskating when it was growing in popularity in China in the 1980's. She skated for the short-track national team from 1987 to 1994. She said speedskating caught on partly because it did not require cold weather.

"Winter sports usually start in the northern part of the country, the colder part," Li said. "Speedskating, like short track, is kind of like inside, so it's really convenient for all of the country to participate in this sport. It just gets more people involved."

Winter sports may still be limited in China, but that does not mean the Chinese lower their competitive expectations for their winter athletes.

Only a few days into the Olympics, the Xinhua news agency quoted a Chinese delegation official as saying: "Patience has worn out. China's agonizing wait for its first Turin Olympic gold has reached the breaking point."

Wang Meng, a short-track skater, took the pressure off by winning the 500 meters on Feb. 15. The long-track skater Wang Manli broke down in tears after finishing second in the 500 and could not compose herself for reporters. "Please do not ask more," she said. "I can't do it now."

When Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao won silver medals in pairs figure skating, however, they were hailed in the news media as national heroes. Zhang Dan crashed badly on an attempted throw quadruple salchow, but after a couple of minutes, the couple resumed their program, finishing without any additional errors.

Xinhua has increased its coverage of the Winter Games. It has 26 reporters here, compared with the 10 it sent to Salt Lake City in 2002. Its officials said the increase was due to growing interest in the Olympics; Beijing is preparing for the 2008 Summer Games.

"They want to be a sports superpower," Roush said. "That led to their pursuit of the Olympics. But they understand that to be a superpower, they have to do well in both winter and summer."

China sent its first winter team to Lake Placid in 1980; won its first medals with three silvers in 1992; and won its first gold when Yang Yang (A) won the 1,000-meter short-track race in 2002. She also won the 500, and China took home eight medals from Salt Lake City.

China's success in pairs skating has rattled the Russians, who have dominated the event. After Tatyana Totmianina and Maksim Marinin held off two Chinese pairs to become the 12th straight Russian or Soviet pair to win Olympic gold, Totmianina said, perhaps hopefully: "I'm very glad we are a part of history, but I don't think we are the last ones. There are so many pairs in Russia right now. They should just work a bit harder."

Vyacheslav Fetisov, chairman of Russia's agency for physical culture and sport, said after the pairs competition that the Chinese had copied Russian training methods. "They train much like we did," he said. "They train people to be champions."

The Chinese, however, have not copied the Russian approach of trying to dominate in many sports. The United States also takes the broader approach.

The U.S.O.C. concentrated on upgrading winter sports after winning six medals at the Calgary Games in 1988. The real push began when Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Games.

Instead of aiming for medals in particular sports, the U.S.O.C. poured money into many of them. It urged individual sports federations to upgrade and it increased financing to athletes. The approach worked, and United States athletes won 34 medals in 2002, up from 13 in 1998. The American team fell back to 23 medals in Turin, although some dropoff after playing host to a Games is expected.

"From our standpoint, it pays to diversify," Roush said. "If there is one sport that is down, the other ones can pick it up. We don't live and die off of one or two sports. There are so many wild cards, injuries, crashes. We don't put pressure on one particular athlete to come through."

China has taken that approach with many of its summer sports, but it still prefers its niches in the winter.