Accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers has issued a report that predicts China will win 88 medals at this summer’s Olympics, one more than the United States. From AP via International Herald Tribune:
“As the host nation in Beijing and (with) an economy which has grown very strongly since 2004, the medal ‘target’ of 88 for China according to our model is much higher than its actual medal totals in Athens (63) or Sydney (59),” said John Hawksworth, the report’s author.
China was third in overall medals at Athens 2004, behind first-place United States (102) and Russia (92). China was second in gold medals behind the U.S. in 2004 — 32 to 36.
“The bottom line is that size matters, but it is not everything,” Hawksworth said. “David can sometimes slay Goliath in the Olympic arena.”
PWC’s full table of predictions and an explanation of the survey methodology is available here.
The survey contradicts an assertion by sports official Cui Dalin last year that China would finish behind the US and Russia in the 2008 Games medal count.
