But, when it comes to the country's Olympic plans, Du Li and Yang Lian matter as much or more than the 2.29m-tall Houston Rockets centre.

Du, competing in the 10m air rifle, and Yang, in the 48kg women's weightlifting, have the chance to capture their nation's first gold medal at the Beijing Games.

And gold is what the hosts are targeting.

China won 32 golds in 2004, four fewer than the United States.

To surpass the US as the top gold-winning country, China's fearsome state-run sports schools have been focusing on relatively obscure sports such as shooting, women's weightlifting, rowing, boxing and cycling.

Other nations are doing the same thing, but the Chinese seem better funded and organised.

Du and Yang compete on Aug 9, and could take the first step for China.

'The first gold means glory,' Yang said.

Du won the 10m air rifle four years ago in Athens, and she is under pressure to deliver again.

'Of course I am under some stress,' she said. 'But I really enjoy it, because few athletes have the chance to win the first gold medal.'

The five sports the Chinese have targeted represent almost one quarter of the 302 gold-medal events.

Many of the rest of China's haul will come in three sports that they always dominate - diving, badminton and table tennis.

Gymnastics also is expected to provide golds.

The low-profile sports must make up for the absence of medals in two marquee events: swimming and track and field.

China won only four golds in those events in the last two Olympics.

Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang is China's favourite on the track, although his 110m world record was broken last month by Cuban Dayron Robles.

In swimming, the favourite for a gold is Wu Peng in the 200m butterfly.

By contrast, the Americans have won slightly more than half of their overall medals in the last two Games in swimming and track and field.

Foreigners often have a hard time learning Chinese names, but they might have to with the medal chase so close.

Olympic diving champion Guo Jingjing is the favourite in the women's 3m springboard, and Chen Ruolin could win the women's 10m platform.

China won six of diving's eight golds in Athens and could do as well again.

They took three of five golds in badminton in 2004.

Lin Dan is favoured in the men's singles and his girlfriend Xie Xingfang in the women's singles.

They are the top-ranked male and female players in the world.

In table tennis, China could sweep all the four titles, as they have the world's top five women and five of the top six men.

China's powerful array of about 600 athletes - only the US squad is larger - will be boosted by the all-important home-ground advantage.

They also have dozens of foreign coaches directing everything, from water polo to baseball.

Simon Shibli, a researcher at Sheffield Hallam University in England, is picking China to win the most golds - 46.

'What you see is a trend of continuing improvement. This is not achieved by fluke,' he said.

'This is designed by the Chinese government on a 15-year planning horizon to show China's emergence as a sporting nation.'

ASSOCIATED PRESS