China won a record five gold medals at the last Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. But due to injuries and veterans' retirement, the nation faces an uphill battle to win gold at this year's Sochi Games. Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters

China hopeful about 2014 Olympic medals, despite setbacks, Lei Lei reports.

Many Chinese remember the joy and tears at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, where China claimed its first-ever Olympic figure skating gold medal and dominated the women's short-track speed-skating rinks, sweeping all four golds. The record five gold medals, two silvers and four bronzes added cheer to that Spring Festival holiday.

But the country seems unlikely to fare as well this year at the Games in Sochi, Russia. That is in part because China's greatest hope for gold - short-track speed skater Wang Meng - will miss the Games due to injury.

Wang's injury 21 days before the Sochi Olympics open on Friday shocked the Chinese team.

China's most decorated Winter Olympian collided with a teammate during training in Shanghai on Jan 16 and underwent surgery on her ankle immediately afterward. She is expected to recover six to eight weeks after the procedure.

Wang won the 500m golds at the 2006 Turin and 2010 Vancouver Games in her signature event, for which she holds the world record. The 28-year-old has four Olympic golds, one silver and one bronze.

Still, the Chinese delegation has refused to give up hope. The team's deputy manager Liu Hao said the team's morale is high and it will stick to the original training plan.

China has always been a strong contender in short-track speed-skating, in which Yang Yang won the country's first Winter Olympic gold in the women's 500m at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.

Fan Kexin has been considered the best hope of gold since Wang's injury.

"Wang is not (China's) only hope in the women's 500m," said Yang, who has retired and is now an IOC member. "Fan has made great progress in recent years. Since there's no pressure on her, it is possible for her to surpass herself."

Fan finished second in the overall World Cup standings for the 500m this season. She was also the only woman other than Wang to win a 500m World Cup this season.

But Yang admitted that Wang's absence leaves little chance for China in middle and long-distance events.

"South Korea is traditionally strong on the short track," Yang said.

"The middle and long-distance events require rich experience, but the Chinese team is young without Wang. As for the relay race, Wang used to be the leader, so her absence will cost the team."

At the Vancouver Games, the Chinese team swept all four golds in women's events - the 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m and 3,000m relay.

More hurdles

Also facing pressure is China's freestyle skiing aerial team.

Its remarkable performance this season has given the team enough confidence to eye the golds for both men's and women's events.

After five stops on the World Cup series, returning women's world champion Li Nina ranked first overall, followed by compatriots Zhang Xin and Xu Mengtao. On the men's side, China's Liu Zhongqing - a Vancouver Games' bronze medalist - topped the ranking, followed by teammate Qi Guangpu.

"The Olympic preparations are going smoothly, and we've felt the pressure," said the team's head coach Ji Dong. "We're aiming for gold. We have chances in both the men's and women's events."

The overall strength of China's women's team has been globally leading.

Xu Nannan claimed silver at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, which was China's first medal in a Winter Olympic snow event.

Led by Li, the silver medalist in Vancouver, four Chinese women skiers finished in the top seven in Canada.

The team's primary task is to end the gold drought on the women's side. Li's return encouraged the team.

After the Vancouver Games, Li - a three-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist - left the competition field to study at Beijing Sports University.

Li returned for training in May 2012 and claimed her first victory in the opening stop of this season in China's Jilin province.

"I came back for training because I love the sport," the 30-year-old said.

"Our team's goal is to win gold in Sochi. No matter who wins it, we'll be very happy."

Li must win through performance stability, given low degree of difficulty of her jumps.

Xu, the younger reigning world champion, stands a better chance on the trickiest jumps.

"Of course I want to get the gold," said Xu, 22.

"But I'm calmer than I was four years ago. I'll focus on my daily training and progress step by step."

Best shot

Many believe two-time pairs world champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian remain China's only medal hope in Sochi.

The veteran pair hopes for a good performance in Russia, which the duo views as its Olympic swan song.

"We feel more relaxed this time and hope for a good result," Pang said.

Sochi will be her fourth Olympics with Tong as her partner.

"The perfect ending for me is to put on two satisfactory performances."

Pang and Tong took silver in Vancouver, where Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo won China's first Olympic figure skating gold. Their younger teammates Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao finished fifth.

Zhao has become the team's coach since retiring from competition. Zhang Hao will compete in Sochi with a new partner, Peng Cheng.

Tong must compete with a serious knee injury, which has bothered him for almost a year.

"It may take longer to recover as I'm getting older, but we still dream of gold," said the 34-year-old, who won the bronze at the ISU Grand Prix Final this season.

"While our dream of gold seems further and further away, we've never given up."