CHICAGO, April 16: China will battle the United States and Russia for medal supremacy at the Beijing Olympics and could become the new dominant force in the Summer Games thanks to groundwork laid for this year.

That was the word from Steve Roush, the US Olympic Committee chief of sport performance, in comments here on Tuesday looking ahead to August’s Olympics and the rising power of the world’s most populous nation of 1.3 billion people.

“You start doing that math,” Roush said. “That’s what keeps me up at night.”

Resisting calls to estimate US medal totals in Beijing, US leaders bowed to Roush as the expert on the task at hand for the Americans to maintain the medal supremacy they have enjoyed.

“Russia, China and the US are vying with the most legitimate shot at the top medal count at the Olympics. This is going to be a highly competitive field,” Roush said. “It has created an excitement around these Olympics that has been missing for a while.”

Recognition that China has boosted resources ahead of a natural Games host edge has produced added incentive for rivals.

“China has an incredibly strong team. Host nations generally have home-field advantage,” Roush said.

“It may keep me up at night but it’s keeping up coaches and young athletes around this country too. There’s a job to be done.”

USOC chief executive Jim Scherr avoided the high-medal expectations of past years, confessing a desire to prepare the public while not poor-mouthing US chances even as they continue to press sponsors for more development money.

“We are trying to manage expectations,” Scherr said. “What our nation is spending on athletes is not as much as other nations are spending. We need more resources if we are going to keep our levels as competitive as we are now.”

Added Roush: “We need to be smarter on how we spend our resources too.”—AFP