2003-07-30 

   BEIJING, July 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Beijing-born athletes will strive to win more than six gold medals in the 2008 Olympic Games, a top sports official said here on Wednesday.

   Sun Kanglin, chief of the Beijing Sports Bureau, was confident that the native athletes can be more competitive in the coming five years.

   "Beijing-born athletes won 1.5 gold medals in Sydney Olympics, we aim to win three in Athens and six or even more in 2008 before a home crowd," Sun told Xinhua.

   To realize their ambition, Sun said that Beijing has built a 700 million yuan (about 85 million US dollars) Lucheng training center, which is a world-class sports complex.

   "We will also beef up cooperation with sporting powers like Australia and find some world-class coaches for our athletes," Sunadded. Enditem