The triathlon is still an unfamiliar event to most Chinese. How will the Chinese national team be prepared for the game, and what is the goal for the team? The Beijing News interviewed Wang Jianguo, the triathlon director at the General Administration of Sports.

The Ming Tomb Reservoir north of Beijing is the triathlon venue for the 2008 Olympics. [File photo]

According to Wang, the triathlon has an 18-year history in China, but has only been practiced by amateur athletes, which means the Chinese team is still weak compared with other experienced teams.

Before 2000, China had no other professional triathlon teams except the Bayi team from the army. Now there are six professional teams in China, with 90 athletes altogether, still a very small number.

The triathlon is divided into swimming, cycling and marathon, and swimming ability is the standard for choosing new athletes, according to Wang, as swimming is the most difficult to train for in a short period of time. Swimming is also the first event in a triathlon, and if an athlete performs well, it can boost his/her confidence for the rest of the race.

The triathlon is included in both the Asian Games and the Olympic Games, and the Chinese team ranks at mid-level.

In Asia, the Chinese women's triathlon team is stronger than any other team but Japan. Japan and Kazakstan also have better competition records than China in men's triathlon events.

"We started intensive training on 2003, and our athletes are three to five years younger than European and American athletes in training," Wang said.