Under the guidance of her new coach Daniel Morelon, a former French cycling star with eight world champions and triple Olympic titles, Guo made some progress in speeding. She set a new Asian record of 200 meters in sprint in 12.002 seconds in Manchester.

However, in Morelon's eyes, Guo was not strong enough to compete with western cyclists. He said: "Guo still need be more stronger and do not easily get tired. Speeding burned energy quickly. If you are not strong enough, you could not compete with names like Victoria Pendeton and Rebecca Romero. "

"In Switzerland, followed my coach's new strategies for Olympics, I had tried my best to regain more energy during the past two month. I still need to practise some before the Olympics," added Guo.

According to Jiang Guofeng, secretary general of the Chinese Cycling Association (CCA), Guo will start her training on August 1.

"We do not want to put much pressure on Guo even we have high expectations on women's sprint. I hope she can forget the unhappiness of the Manchester world championship and concentrate on the preparation for the Olympic," said Jiang.

In Beijing Olympics, Guo will compete with British legend Victoria Pendeton, rising star Rebecca Romero and American speed specialist Jennie Reed in women's sprint.

Guo said: "We all know each other well. Pendeton has speed and experience, Romero was stronger. As for Reed, I was beaten 2-1 by her in Manchester. I do not want that thing to happen again. "

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2008)