Elite track cyclist Guo Shuang is China's best hope of an Olympic medal at the sport thanks in part to the tutelage of legendary French cyclist Daniel Morelon.

Guo has spent the last two years on the track and the 21-year-old hopes to see her hard work pay off next August in the women's sprint event.

Her coach thinks she's got what it takes.

"My goal with Guo is to win the gold medal," said Morelon. "I am sure she is among the world's top five, so at the very least she has to win a medal (in Beijing)."

China's 200 million cyclists certainly hope so.

The country's hopes were shattered two years ago when the International Cycling Union (UCI) dropped the women's 500m time trial from the Beijing Olympics - effectively killing off China's chances of making a podium finish.

Then Guo stepped up to reignite people's hopes.

Morelon, a four-time Olympic champion who won seven world titles in the 1960s and 1970s, has trained several Olympic gold medalists and looks all set to add another to the list next summer.

China's best show in competitive cycling came at the 2004 Athens Games, when Jiang Yonghua won a silver medal in the 500m time trial. The event was later axed in favor of Bicycle Motorcross (BMX), which will debut in Beijing.

China had no Olympic medal contenders at the sport besides Jiang until Guo showed up.

Having started training at 13, a relatively early age in China given that most cyclists here are picked from track and field teams, the girl from Inner Mongolia was sent to the World Cycling Training Center in 2002 and followed French coach Sebastien Dulcus.

Guo started sprinting last year when she managed a podium finish in the Individual Pursuit at the World Championships.

She went on to win two gold medals at the Doha Asian Games in December. She is now UCI-ranked world No 7 in the women's sprint.

Her speedy rise has won her much praise from Jiang.

"She will definitely be our hottest title contender in Beijing," she said.

"Guo's improvement over the past two years has proven she is capable of beating anyone in the world. She's the one everybody should be watching."