KIEV - "The Chinese government has done an outstanding job and I believe Beijing Olympic Games will be the most successful in history," said Sergei Bubka, Ukraine's National Olympic Committee chairman in an interview with Xinhua.
Sergei Bubka
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China made great achievements in building the Olympics venues, he said. "Unfortunately, up to now I have no chance to enter into the 'Bird's Nest', but it looked very spectacular from the outside. I was very much impressed by it," said the former pole vaulting tsar, who had created 35 world records.
"China has many outstanding athletes, of which I am most familiar with Liu Xiang. I hope he can perform well at the Beijing Olympic Games," said Bubka.
When asked about the medals his country might win in the Olympics, Bubka said he did not want to dwell on the number, stressing Ukraine will send a record-sized team of 254 athletes to the Beijing Olympic Games.
"I believe Ukrainian athletes will obtain the good results at the Beijing Olympic Games. However, Ukraine's ranking in the medal table may be slightly worse than in the Athens Olympic Games due to increased competition," he added.
At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Ukraine won nine gold, five silver and nine bronze medals, ranking 12th among the 202 participants.
Although Bubka repeatedly broke the pole vault world record, he just won one Olympic gold in 1988.
