(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-29 09:07

BEIJING - New Chinese women's team coach Elisabeth Loisel said she is aiming for a medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics after her appointment was sealed yesterday.

Former France's women's soccer team coach Elisabeth Loisel meets the press at the news conference to announce her appointment to coach China's women's team in Beijing October 28, 2007. China's former coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors from Sweden quitted last week after China's quarter-final elimination at last month's Women's World Cup. [Xinhua]

“Right now we have a young team so we want to continue to improve and raise the team's level,” Loisel told journalists after being hired by the Chinese Football Association (CFA).

“At the Olympic Games, we will be like everyone else. As each event has only three medals we hope that we can win one of them. We will make our best efforts to medal.”

Earlier yesterday, the CFA signed a contract with Loisel for her to lead the team into the Olympic Games, with the coach taking up her duties this week when the national side begin training, a CFA official said.

Loisel, a former French national coach, replaces popular Swedish coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors, who refused to extend her contract last week amid reports of disputes over team decisions with the nation’s football bureaucrats.

Loisel, 44, will have just over nine months to work with the players ahead of the Aug 8-24 Beijing Games.

But as a member of the technical study group of FIFA, football's global governing body, Loisel is familiar with the Chinese side and yesterday was at ease answering questions on the team’s character and make-up.

“The football association have become enchanted with the French lady as she cares more about her authority within the team and the arrangements of their future warm-ups than her salary and holiday,” Titan Sports Weekly said yesterday.

“Elisabeth seems to be even more professional than Marika Domanski-Lyfors.”