When Peter Ueberroth, the chairman of the US Olympic Committee, watched the Chinese delegation march into the stadium of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, his reaction was to be thankful.

And when Chinese sharpshooter Xu Haifeng won the first gold of the Los Angeles Games, his reaction was "these guys are good".

Twenty-four years later, as Ueberroth prepares to watch China's athletes compete at their home Olympics with a big opportunity to overtake his US team atop the medal table, he is not surprised at all.