By Nick Bryant BBC News, Sydney

China's team in Sydney is the largest after Australia

The Chinese sporting juggernaut has thundered into Sydney.

It is a 300-strong team of elite young athletes to compete in the biennial Youth Olympics, a five-day festival featuring 16 different sports.

Chinese officials view this as an important training ground ahead of the Beijing games, and another step towards becoming a sporting super-state.

The idea behind this event is to give young athletes aged between 13 and 19 an Olympic-style experience, and to prepare them for the adult games in Beijing next year, and London in 2012.

To that end, the competitors are housed in an Olympic village, participate in opening and closing ceremonies and take an Olympic oath, promoting the ideals of fair play and honesty. The young athletes are even subject to random drugs tests.

Seeking domination

Only the hosts, Australia, have fielded a larger team than China.

More so than other nations, it seems, the Chinese are keen to blood their young athletes in this kind of competition.

In sporting terms, actually, we're all at war against China Simon Clegg Chief executive of the British Olympic Association

After all, at the Athens Olympics, 80% of its Olympians were first-timers.

Experience seems to be about the only thing lacking in China's sporting arsenal.

For a country that was in the Olympic wilderness from 1956 to 1972, the rise of China has been one of the great sporting success stories of the past 30 years.

At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul it was 11th in the medals table.

At both the Barcelona and Atlanta games it came fourth.

China already excels in sports such as gymnastics and diving

Sydney saw the continuation of its inexorable rise, finishing third.

In Athens it not only ranked second, but fielded competitors in every sport, save for the equestrian events and baseball, that great Yankee pastime.

Next year, it is seeking complete domination, and to project its emerging global power through its sporting prowess.

The two are clearly linked. With home advantage and with so many national resources devoted to producing a dominant team, it is widely expected to top Team USA in the medal rankings.

At last year's Asia games in Doha, China provided a sneak preview of what can be expected in Beijing.

It amassed a staggering 316 medals, 165 of them gold.

By contrast, India, its great emerging giant rival, claimed just 10 golds.

'China syndrome'

Take diving. The goal for Beijing is to win a gold and silver in every individual event and to sweep the board in the synchronised team events. The clean sweep.

China's young athletes are gaining valuable experience in Sydney

China flexed its muscles in the first diving event of the Sydney games, with 17-year-old Qin Tian from Hubei Province taking the gold in the three-metre springboard event.

There was never any doubt that a Chinese diver would win.

Even in football, traditionally an event in which the Chinese have struggled, they want to rise quickly through the rankings.

Sydney, where they are pitted against Asian rivals Australia, Japan and Korea, is an important part of that process.

"We've come here to learn from our opponents and to gain experience," said Hua Jianping, head coach of the Chinese football team.

"We might not be ready yet to win the gold in Beijing but we are looking beyond that. Our long-term aim is to be the number one side in the world, and this is an important part of our development."

Other countries are watching the rise of China with a mixture of awe, amazement and fear. You could almost describe it as a "China syndrome".

"In sporting terms, actually, we're all at war against China," said Simon Clegg, the chief executive of the British Olympic Association, ahead of the youth Olympics.