How close is China from its second fencing Olympic gold medal?

Ask Tan Xue.

The current world No 1 women's sabre specialist from Tianjin was just one match away from bringing China another Olympic fencing title, following Luan Jujie's victory in the women's foil at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Despite being tagged as an overwhelming favorite after defeating then world No 1 Sada Jacobson of the United States in the semifinals at the 2004 Athens Games, Tan, then world No 5, lost her focus in the title match against Mariel Zagunis, a back-up for the US team, and had to settle for a silver.

Tan's example perfectly describes the current state of China's fencing -- incredible potential, improving fast, but lacking the depth to become a real force.

Since winning China's first-ever World Championships title at the age of 18, the 24-year-old has been favored to win any major international competition, but always ends up finishing second best.

In the 2003 Worlds, she won a silver medal after losing to Romanian Dorina Mihai. Last year, she made it to her third Worlds' title match, on the back of an amazing run of form that helped her to five straight World Cup titles earlier that year. Even so, she ended up with silver again, after losing to Russian Elena Netchaeva.

"After consulting with my coach, I realized that I failed to do my utmost in the title game. I need to work harder," the 24-year-old Tan said

Just like Tan, many other Chinese star fencers have been on the verge of making history by making it to the final matches in the past four Olympics.

In Athens, men's epee ace Wang Lei and the men's foil team -- featuring the nation's popular "Three Musketeers" Ye Chong, Dong Zhaozhi and Wang Haibin - were other Chinese silver medalists.

For Wang, it was Switzerland's world No 1 Marcel Fischer who denied him the gold. In the men's foil team, it was the referee who frustrated their hopes. The Hungarian referee Joszef Hidasi was expelled from the Olympics and banned for two years for wrongly making six score decisions in favor of Italy, China's rival in the final.

Bad refereeing also cost Wang Huifeng a women's foil gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The referee favored Italian Giovanna Trillini when both players hit each other when the match was tied 5-5. Trillini took the gold because of that decisive call, though video replays showed it was erroneous.

"We can't win gold in a close match. We need to do much better than our rivals," said Cai Jiadong, the team's fencing leader at the 2004 Games.

His words might also explain why China's men's foil team just lost to France by one score at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Apart from the distant gold medal in 1984, so far Chinese fencers have won five silvers and one bronze at the past four Olympics. Now they are working on turning their huge potential into another Olympic gold at August's Beijing Games.

There will be a new video refereeing system to ensure impartiality. The team has also invited legendary French coach Christian Bauer to help Tan and other sabre fencers.

Besides, China has improved rapidly since the 2004 Games with a landmark double-gold show at the 2006 Worlds.

"An old Chinese proverb says 90 li is only half of a 100-li journey," said Xiao Tian, vice head of China's sport ministry. "The ending is decisive and I believe we can make a breakthrough in Beijing."

"I am looking forward to a gold in Beijing," Tan said.