Austin Ramzy (’03) follows up an earlier post on TIME’s China Blog about the British Olympic Association’s declaration that, in sports, the rest of the world is “at war against China”:

Now the BOA has some numbers to go along with that statement. In a report released last week the group that said if the Summer Olympics had been held last year, China would have topped the medal count. (Here’s an AP story, and a press release with links to the report.) That’s a jump from 2005, when according to finishes in top-level international competitions, the U.S. would have led an Olympic medal haul, and China would have finished third behind Russia.

Much of China’s gains came from sports where the mainland doesn’t have a long tradition of achievement, like fencing, rowing and tennis. That’s part of the country’s overall medal strategy, which my colleague Hannah Beech wrote a fascinating story about ahead of the 2004 Summer Games.

Read the full post here.