Badminton, Diving & Table Tennis

There are 17 events being contested in London among these three sports. At the 2011 World Championships for these three sports, China swept all the gold medals. They won all 10 diving gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, plus racking up silver medals in the three individual women's events. The 1 meter springboard is not an Olympic event, but they could well be favored in the eight events on the Olympic program. British hope Tom Daley, the 2009 World Champion on the 10 meter platform, finished 5th in Shanghai. However, China's Qiu Bo won the gold medal by 41.2 points over American silver medalist David Boudia.

China swept all five events at the World Table Tennis championships in Rotterdam this year. The Olympic program includes team events, not any of the three doubles events. Singapore won the 2010 World Team Championship for women (team worlds are conducted in even years, the other five events in odd years), a big upset over the Chinese. Don't expect a similar surprise in London. China has so dominated table tennis that they have won 43 out of 45 gold medals in the last nine World Championships, stretching back to 1995. Only men's singles titles by Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden in 1997 and Werner Schlager of Austria in 2003 have been the exceptions. Of the top 100 ranked women in the world by the International Table Tennis Federation, 20 are Chinese and 25 are either from Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei or are Chinese expatriates.

In badminton, China has not been as dominant, winning 29 out of 40 gold medals in the World Championships conducted during the 21st century. However, the women have won all of the singles and doubles gold medals during that time. The British have a hope with world silver medalists Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier in mixed doubles, although they were not ranked coming into the event and were surprise finalists at the event in London.

Add to this five gold medals in swimming (although Sun Yang won the men's 800 meter freestyle, not an Olympic event); four event wins at the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships; a gold and three silver at the 2010 Women's World Boxing Championships; two gold medals in Olympic events at the 2010 World Shooting Championships (although China did lead overall with 21 golds); and four golds at the 2010 World Gymnastics Championships. China seems poised to possibly improve on the 50 gold medals they won in Beijing.