China expected to reap record medal haul at Beijing Games say analysts

BEIJING : China are predicted to win a record 13 Olympic medals, including a record six golds, at this month's Beijing Winter Games, according to a Virtual Medal Table forecast from data analysts Nielsen Gracenote published on Wednesday.

    Such a bumper haul would beat China's previous best of 11 medals, including five golds, from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.

It would also be a vast improvement on the 2018 Pyeongchang Games where Team China won one gold, placing them 16th in the medals table.

    There is more "uncertainty" in this forecast than usual because of a dearth of data on Chinese athletes who largely did not compete in international competitions in the 2020/21 season, but gains are expected from sports where the country already has some "pedigree", the firm said.

    "Chinese success at these Winter Olympics will be focused on sports in which they have previously had Olympic medal success - figure skating, freestyle skiing, short track, snowboard and speed skating," said Simon Gleave, head of sports analysis at Gracenote.

    All but one of China's previous 62 Winter Olympic medals have been won in these five sports. The other was a bronze in curling at the Vancouver Olympics.

    China's potential gold medal winners include American-born freestyle skier Eileen Gu, the figure skating pair of Sui Wenjing and Han Cong and short track speed skater and reigning Olympic Champion Wu Dajing.

The short track relay teams also have a decent shot at gold including in the mixed relay, a new event for the 2022 Games. 

Last week Chinese President Xi Jinping said he does not care how many golds China wins at the Beijing Olympics in an apparent effort to play down a focus on the medals table.

But speaking to Xinhua on Sunday