Medal hopeful

With the gold medal presumably out of reach, Zhang hopes some rising hopefuls will work harder and fight for medals in August.

"Our women athletes are still competitive in some events like the 100m backstroke, 400m medley and short-track freestyle," Zhang said. "The top two men swimmers Zhang Lin and Wu Peng are also expected to make breakthroughs for China."

At the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, 15-year-old Qi Hui broke the world record in the 200m breaststroke semifinal, but finished fourth in the finals.

With the retirement of 2004 Olympic women's 100m breaststroke gold medalist Luo Xuejuan, Qi, who finished sixth in the 200m breaststroke in Athens and won the 200m, 400m individual medley and 200m breaststroke titles at the 2006 Short-course World Championships, is considered the top medal hopeful for the Chinese women's team.

Men's star Wu Peng, the 200m butterfly runner-up at last year's World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, Australia, is expected to end China's men's Olympic swimming medal drought.

Besides Wu, China's top male freestyler Zhang Lin is also coming around after a three-month training session in Australia under the guidance of Denis Cotterell, former coach of long-distance king Grant Hackett, and is looking to offer a surprise.

The experienced Australian coach Otto believes China still has the chance to win a medal.

"It depends on how they prepare in the remaining time. They need to improve their techniques, details and training program. They also should take the risk to compete in some major tournaments rather than close the door to train before the Games.

"China still has the time and the chance to win a medal."