China's gold medal hopefuls:

Gymnastics - Men's parallel bars, Women's beam, Men's individual trampoline; diving - Men's 3-meter springboard; sailing - Women's laser radial

Dong dong

China has three medal hopefuls in the men's parallel bars - Li Xiaopeng, Yang Wei, the 2006 world champion, and Huang Xu, a former world runner-up.

On the women's beam, China has produced dozens of stars - such as Li Shanshan, who won silver at the 2007 World Championships. China's women's team captain Cheng Fei and Xiao Sha are other names to watch.

Dong Dong and Lu Chunlong are strong medal contenders in the men's individual trampoline.

China won gold in the last two Olympics in men's 3-meter springboard diving. Together with He Chong, who won the 2007 World Diving Series, Chinese veteran Qin Kai will appear in the 2008 Olympic diving event in the Water Cube.

Guo Shuang was seen as a "future star" of China's cycling. In track cycling, Guo has become more experienced and earned herself the status of one of the top athletes in the world. She will compete in the women's sprint in the Olympic Games, and her goal is to claim the title.

Xu Lijia has her eye firmly fixed on the 2008 Olympic sailing gold. Xu made the breakthrough by winning the women's laser radial world title in 2006, a first for Chinese sailing. Home advantage will offer Xu a rare opportunity. She is right on track to take a medal in the Laser Radial class at the Olympics.

(China.org.cn July 30, 2008)