Beijing: With Beijing Olympic Games hitting the halfway point, China's pace of winning gold medals is expected to slow down as several of hosts athletes are not strong enough in many events, slated for the second half.

Chinese athletes do not have the edge over competitors for coming events including track and field, wrestling, boxing and various team sports, said Cui Dalin, the deputy head of the Chinese delegation.

"A great number of events that China is strong in were scheduled in the first half of the Games, so we temporarily took the lead in gold medals," Cui said, referring to the 39 gold medals won by the Asian sporting giant.

"Generally speaking, Chinese athletes are not strong contenders in many events in the second half of the Games. With events like track and field starting, China's pace in winning gold medals will slow down," Cui was quoted as saying by China Daily.

China led the gold medal tally with 39 wins as of yesterday, with 14 silver and 14 bronze medals.

The United States had the highest number of medals overall with 22 gold, 24 silver and 26 bronze medals.

Track and field events are expected to produce 47 titles.

In the 2004 Athens Olympics, the US came first with 36 gold medals while China was second with 32.

Beijing Olympics commenced on August 8 and will end on Aug 24.
Source : PTI