A senior Chinese sports official on Sunday played down the accolade that China has become a sports superpower despite its success at the Athens Olympics.

"Though China is in second place in the gold medal standings, we are not a sports superpower," Yuan Weimin, chief de mission of the Chinese sports delegation, told a press conference on Sunday.

"There is still a considerable gap between us and the United States and Russia," he added.

By wire time, China has pocketed 32 golds, 17 silvers and 14 bronzes, far behind the United States on 35-38-29. Russia is ranked second on 27-27-38 if overall medals are counted.

"We are still comparatively weak in track and field and swimming, two premier sports at the Olympic Games," said Yuan.

"The US grabbed 12 gold medals in the pool and they had four more in Sydney four years ago," he added.

China picked up only two gold medals in track and field and one in swimming.

Liu Xiang made history on Friday when he stormed to the gold in men's 110m hurdles final in a world record-equaling time of 12.91 seconds. His compatriot Xing Huina snatched the gold in the women's 10,000m race, beating a host of world elites that include Ethiopia's Ejegayehu Dibaba and double Olympic champion Derartu Tulu.

In the pool, world championships gold medalist Luo Xuejuan stamped her supremacy in the women's 100m breaststroke when the 20-year-old cruised to a convincing victory at the Olympic Aquatic Center.

Yuan said these victories were of historic significance.

"They have proved that we Asians can also excel on the track and in the pool. It's just the start," he said.

"Hopefully, we can narrow the gap in 2008."

(Xinhua News August 30, 2004)