¡¡   By sportswriter Shan Lei

    ATHENS, Aug. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Years of dedication and efforts have paid off for China as it has made surprises and reaped successes in the Athens Olympic Games, a leading official of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) said.

    "The United States Committee is extremely impressed with the performances of the Chinese athletes at these Olympic Games in Athens," Steven M. Roush, acting chief of Sport Performance of theUSOC, told Xinhua on Saturday.

    China has ranked in an unprecedented second place on the medal table with 32 golds, 17 silvers and 14 bronzes at the fortnight Athens Games.

    "The medal total, especially the gold count, for these Olympics shows an increase from Sydney 2000 and a trend that would indicate a strong showing for 2008 in Beijing."

    "The large increase in top 8 finishes by the Chinese delegationhere in Athens shows the improvement from Sydney 2000 and is a clear indication that the Chinese system is developing more elite level athletes in more Olympic sports than ever before. With the 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Beijing I would only expect an even stronger showing by the Chinese on their home field," Roush said.

    Sprinter Liu Xiang equaled the world record to win the men's 110-meter hurdles Friday evening, which is the only gold medal forthe Chinese men athletes in the track and field in the Olympic history.

    Less than one hour later, Xing Huina won the women's 10,000m by30 minutes and 24.36 seconds.

    "Last night's track and field was very impressive, not only the first gold, but both. That's an area the Chinese federation tries to focus more because of the 41 gold medals available," Roush saidof China's medal haul, when he was watching the U.S. women beat Australia 74-63 in the basketball final at the Olympic Indoor Hall.

    "The amount of gold medals China gained here only shows that the focus of trying to do well in particular sports really paid off. That's something the U.S. federation is trying to do, something the Russian federation, the German federation, all ones getting up upon the medal table, are really working for."

    Liu's success halted the medal drought of the Chinese men athletes on the track, which seldom sees successes of the Asians.

    Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won for China the first ever tennis medal with the gold in the women's doubles, while Meng Guanliang and Yang Wenjun re-wrote the history with their victory in the men's C2 500m canoe.

    "Success can breed success," Roush said. "The Chinese athletes were coming into the Games with a new-found confidence. With those gold medals, more athletes and coaches within China will say,'Look, we can do that.' And that would result in more medals coming in your way, and opening more doors for the athletes to really believe to go in there."

    "China's performances here in Athens, the number of gold medalsthat being won by the Chinese, showed how quickly they've got to that level. And I think that only shows more can happen in four more years for 2008." Enditem