It is the moment that China’s vast state-controlled sports system has been building toward: a titanic contest on home ground to demonstrate the nation’s arrival as a sporting power.

But according to a top sports official, preparations for a record haul of gold medals at the Beijing Olympics are going badly. “The situation is very grim,” said Cui Dalin, deputy head of the General Administration of Sport. Mr Cui predicted China would trail the US and Russia – a result that would be a heavy blow for a sports system that has made winning international golds its goal.