Olympic giants China face tough medal fight at home Games

BEIJING – China topped the medals table at its 2008 Summer Olympics but expectations are much lower for next month’s Beijing Games as the country attempts to build a winter sports industry nearly from scratch.

China did not appear at a Winter Olympics until 1980 at Lake Placid and has hardly sparkled since, winning one gold medal — in short track speed skating — at the last Games, in South Korea’s Pyeongchang, in 2018.

Cold weather sports have not historically been popular in the country, where the prohibitive cost and relative lack of infrastructure had kept the pool of athletes small.

But a huge government-led push to promote snow and ice activities and a soaring middle class looks set to yield some results when the Games begin on February 4,…