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One of the hurdles is the sport's lack of popularity here, where the high cost and demand for natural resources make it more of an elitist pastime. A one-person kayak made in China costs 20,000 yuan ($2,560), about the per capita income in Beijing.

Bringing out the big guns

Capousek is a former Czech Republic international canoeist who left his native Prague for West Germany in 1968.

He studied sport and politics at a German university before leading the wildly successful German squad for 25 years, seeing them to 18 Olympic gold and more than 200 World Championship medals.

"After the Athens Olympics I said, 'OK people, I come to China. I would like to win gold with China.'"

He arrived in 2005 and has already enjoyed a measure of success at last year's World Championships and the Canoe World Cup, held in Guangzhou, for the first time.

Medal-hungry China

Olympic champion Yang bagged two silver medals at the World Cup including at the C4 500. For the women, world champion Zhong Hongyan seized gold in the K4 and K1 event over the same distance.

"I had a better rhythm than the others and I improved my skills after Josef Capousek came as our head coach," she said after the race.

With fewer than 500 days to go before the Beijing Games begins, qualifying is an immediate priority. As a regional qualifier in Japan next spring only offers one berth apiece for canoeing and kayaking, China knows it must overcome stiff competition.

A strong performance at the Asian Games in December lifted hopes, but its importance should not be overstated, insists Capousek.

"In Doha, China won everything at swimming, but the times were terrible, too slow," he said. "Out of 10 competitions (in canoe-kayak), we won seven. It was OK," he said, but not good enough.

China's women won both of their events at West Bay Lagoon. Zhong captured the K1 500 while teammates Zhu Minyuan and Yu Lamei grabbed gold in the K2 500. Showing some inconsistency, Yang won the men's C1 500 but only managed fifth in the longer 1000-meter event. Liu Haitao, who dominated at both the K1 500 and 1000, will be another major threat in Beijing.

The current Chinese squad is made up of 15 women and 8 men for kayak, plus 13 hopefuls for the men-only canoeing team, making the last discipline the most competitive. According to the head coach, men's kayak is the only area China is not expecting to medal in.

"I would like to win 12 medals in Beijing," he said. "Three to four medals I will win. Which color I don't know. We hope it's a good color. Three from women's kayak, one from canoe."

Tranquil waters

It's 1,300 kilometers from Beijing to the alpine blue-green waters of One Thousand Islands Lake in Zhejiang Province, the training ground of China's 36 Olympic hopefuls.

But the country has already traveled much further than this, rising from No. 18 at the 2001 World Championships to capture their first Olympic medal in Athens under another foreign coach, Marek Ploch of Canada, after 30 months of training and preparation.

China only took up canoeing (of which kayaking is a splinter sport) in the last 10-15 years, which pales in comparison to Germany's 80-year history.

Buoyed by its success in Greece, it has invested heavily, building a new 10-storey training center on the lake, tricking out the national team's gymnasium with professional equipment and importing world-class boats from Europe.

"In the last two or three years we've changed a lot of things," said Capousek. "The new training center is very big. These days it's everything big in China."

Mountains to climb

One of Capousek's first tasks was to redesign the national training program and put a new emphasis on nutrition.

"When I arrived the training was the same every day, very boring," he said. "There was no graduation. It wasn't a case of, 'OK, we'll do a block for endurance, then a block focusing on technique.' So the first thing I did was to change this."

"Problem No 1 was technique. Not only building power, but learning how to use the power of the paddles, to bring it forward."

In canoeing and kayaking, conditions can vary to such an extent that timing often ranks second to technique and the ability to weather punishing head winds and side waves.

"Another problem for sports here is food, what the athletes eat. It's OK for normal people, but not for them. No carbohydrates, always the same, too much fat," he said.

China responded to his suggestions by hiring a special nutritionist, but getting the squad to change their eating habits has been an upstream struggle.

"The diet we have set for them is quite scientific," said Song. "But some of the athletes just eat what they want, like fatty foods, and less grains and carbohydrates, and ignore the advice of the nutritionist. So we have to change their way of thinking."