China dominated the 15th Asian Games that recently concluded in Doha, Qatar. China's strength meant that many of the events lacked suspense. During the 14 days of the competition, Chinese athletes harvested a gold medal every two hours on average, winning 165 out of the total of 428. South Korea and Japan were far behind, gaining 58 and 50 gold medals respectively.

This is the seventh time in a row that China has topped the gold medal chart in the Asian Games. During that time, changes have taken place in China's sports world. Besides the country's continuous input into sports, a marketing concept has been introduced. Athletes are no longer completely cultivated under government auspices, and they can realize their commercial value through their own hard work. In addition, many foreign coaches have become part of the Chinese sports scene.

Prior to the games, the Chinese contingent claimed that the competition "would give new athletes a chance to toughen themselves up to prepare for the coming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games." Hence many new faces, which had never before appeared in such high-level games, took part in the Doha competition, making up 63.8 percent of the Chinese delegation, with an average age of 23.3 years.

This pre-Olympic warmup proved successful. The Doha arena became a stage for many young Chinese athletes to demonstrate their talent. Out of 413 Chinese rookies, 131 won a total of 103 individual and group gold medals, accounting for 62 percent of the total number of gold medals won by the Chinese contingent. The experience they gained in such a major sports event will be conducive to their future improvement and maturation.

But the Chinese sports delegation also included some of the world's top athletes such as Olympic champion Liu Xiang, who this year exceeded the Asian Games record of 13.27 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles that he set four years ago with an easy 13.15 seconds.

New medal growth areas were also evident at the Doha games. Nineteen-year-old Wu Jingyu won China's first kickboxing gold medal in the Asian Games, while 23-year-old Wang Hongni won the first-ever women's triathlon of the Asian Games, five minutes faster than the champion of the Athens Olympic Games.

In the track and field events, the Chinese team won 14 gold medals, the same number as in previous Asian Games. "I don't see much competitiveness for our athletes here as in the Olympics and the world championships," said Feng Shuyong, head coach of China's track and field team. "I doubt if our players can perform as well as in these games when they are standing in the Olympic arena with stronger rivals around."

At the Doha Games, China's water-sports team won 16 gold medals, equaling the number won by Japan. Though they gained two fewer gold medals than expected, the team competed at its "normal" level, said Chinese swimming head coach Zhang Yadong.

"You should clearly see the Asian Games as different from the Olympic Games," said Liu Peng, the deputy head of the Chinese delegation and the President of the State General Administration of Sports. "After analyzing our athletes we are aware of our own shortcomings and we have to redouble our efforts to face the bigger challenges."