CHANGCHUN -- Most Chinese consider it a "Mission Impossible" for their national cross-country skiing team to win a medal at the 2010 Vancouver Games, but Swedish coach Per-Erik Ronnestrand begs to disagree.
"Our goal is to achieve medals at Vancouver Olympics," Ronnestrand, who took the helm of the Chinese team in 2005, told Xinhua on Wednesday. "I admit that it is an extremely tough task for us, but we will try our best to make it come true."
"We have entered several legs of FIS Tour de Ski China since late last year, and I feel that my team is making progress little by little," he added.
At the FIS Tour de Ski China held in Changchun Jingyuetan national forest park this week, Chinese Peng Yonghong won the gold in the women's 50 kilometers classic while her teammate Tang Jinle finished runner-up in the men's 50k classic.
"Liu Yuanyuan and Peng Yonghong have had some good performance at international races in the last two years, but generally speaking, we still have a lot to improve to be more competitive at the Olympics," Ronnestrand said.
Gao Xuedong, secretary-general of the Chinese Ski Association, kept a much lower tone, saying that a top-eight finish would be satisfactory for the Chinese.
"It's almost impossible for the Chinese cross-country skiers to make the podium at the Vancouver Games," he said. "The more realistic goal for us is to finish in top eight."
Having participated in a total of eight Winter Olympics since 1980, Chinese cross-country skiers recorded their best results, a 13th in the women's relay and an 18th in the women's 10k classical race through Wang Chunli, at the Turino Games in 2006.
According to Gao, China still has a long way to go to become a powerhouse in the sport of cross-country skiing, which enjoys great tradition and popularity in northern European countries including Sweden, Finland and Norway.
"In the past few years, more and more Chinese skiers have made it through to top 30, we are trying our best to catch up with the top of the world," he said.
Gao also mentioned that the Chinese Ski Association had been trying to provide its skiers with more opportunities to take part in international competitions, which helped them a lot to learn from the world's best skiers.
"The Chinese women's team is gradually arising with Liu Yuanyuan, Hou Yuxia, Li Hongxue and Man Dandan all showing great potential," said Gao. "We will work really hard in the next two years and hopefully present a good show at the Vancouver Games."
