(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-02 20:01

The United States expects China to challenge strongly for the top spot on the medals table at next year's Beijing Olympics despite efforts by Chinese officials to downplay their chances.

China won 32 gold medals to finish second behind the US (36) at the last Olympics but deputy sports minister Cui Dalin said on Wednesday he thought it unlikely they would overhaul the Americans on home soil next August.

Steven Roush, the US Olympic Committee (USOC)'s chief of sport performance, disagreed.

"I anticipate a very competitive environment between China, Russia and the U.S for both the gold medal count and the total medal count," he told a news conference on Thursday.

Roush's opinion is backed up by a USOC analysis of performances at world championship level in 2006 that, if transposed to an Olympics, would have given China 43 gold medals to 36 and 35 for the US and Russia respectively.

"We take that as a challenge," Roush said. "We recognise that China will have a strong team and Russia. And we will pursue a very strong team as well."

Roush said he thought the competition from China had made the US stronger.

"It has forced the US to re-examine how we prepare our athletes and where we spend our funds and I think that will allow us to do critical reviews of what's been done in the past and made us better," he said.

"I think that is a critical aspect of being competitive and having competitors challenge and force you to get better."

Roush said he expected the Beijing Olympics to be "the most magnificent ever held" and although the city's notorious pollution was a concern, he expected it to be sorted out, at least for the period of the Games.

"We are monitoring the situation on our regular basis through our scientists," he said.

"There is a concern for us to prepare our athletes or let them know the conditions that they will be competing under in 2008."

Last November, during a China-Africa summit, Beijing tested pollution and traffic control measures they hope to use in 2008. Roush was encouraged.

"We saw a remarkable change in the climate," he said. "I'm anticipating that for the summer of 2008 we'll continue to see that."

The USOC had reinforced its anti-doping code, Roush said, and they would make "every effort" to ensure their athletes were clean in Beijing.

"It's one of the fears I have about (everyone talking about) winning medals," he said. "Because it has to be about winning medals the right way."