Hot weather no excuse for competition results -- china.org.cn

Beijing's hot and humid weather should not be an excuse for any athletes on competition results, Germany's chef de mission Michael Vesper said on Tuesday.

"It's warm, very warm. I think all athletes are competing in the same conditions, so there is no excuse for anybody," Vesper, also the Secretary General of German Olympic Committee, said after attending the Germany's flag-raising ceremony at the Village.

"Of course, many athletes feel problems with climatic conditions, but they have to deal with it. It is normal. Every athlete from every team is training and competing under the same conditions.

"No complaints from my delegation, we can not cool off the sun," added he.

Regarding to the medal rally pursuit for Germany in the Games, Vesper said: "As many as we can of course, we won in Athens 13 gold medals, 49 in total. Our aim of course is as many as possible. I think we need to be better than the last Games."

The Olympic Village is OK with German delegation. "The village is OK. Everybody is satisfied. In general we are very satisfied with everything," said he.

Vesper expected Germany can stand on the traditional stronghold. "The canoeing and rowing team is not here yet, I think they are traditionally strong. They're medal makers for us and I hope they do that again in China," he said.

For the top gold tally team, Vesper said it would be one of those two, China or the United States.

To Germany's target, Vesper told a modest answer with "top ten" in gold ranking. "It's top ten. We would like to be top ten," he said.

"For men's handball, I have no confidence to win the gold medal, but I hope so. I think our handball team has the potential to win a medal, because we're world champions. They should come into the semifinal for the least," added Vesper.

In the Athens Games, Germany notched up 49 medals including 13 golds, ranking in the sixth place on the gold tally after the United States, China, Russia, Australia and Japan. The result has been their worst since the unification of Germany in 1990.

(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2008)