Great haul of China: More than 400 athletes to chase gold in Rio
Team is second largest ever but the United States is likely to top medal table
China is expecting to send their largest squad – outside of their own Olympics in 2008 – to the Rio Games this summer witha gold harvest targeted in six major events, a senior sports official said on Friday.
The final squad size going to Brazil would be more than 400 athletes with 70 days left before the Summer Games, said Liu Aijie, deputy director of Athletic Sports Department at the State General Administration of Sports.
“The number is changing as the qualification process for some sports is still ongoing,” said Liu. “We just learned our women’s quadruple sculls made it in the final qualification regatta in Lucerne.
“We sent 396 athletes to London four years ago and are hoping to send over 400 this time but the final number cannot be confirmed at this stage.”
At the 2012 London Games, China won 38 gold medals to finish second in the table behind the United States (46). In Beijing, China were supreme with 51 golds to 36 for the US.
Liu believes the US will keep their number one position because of the impact of professional sports in America, while China and Russia would have to battle it out for second place.