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Spearheaded by a gold medal from women's marathoner Bai Xue, the Chinese track and field team exceeded expectations at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, earning one gold, one silver and two bronze.

However, local officials are not getting carried away with the results and claim Chinese athletes still have a long way to go before becoming a force on the world stage.

"The Chinese team achieved good results due to their fighting spirit and confidence and some of the athletes performed beyond their real level," said Du Zhaocai, director of China's Athletics Administrative Center.

"We can't say that Chinese athletes have made great progress. We still have to work hard."

Chinese expectations had been low heading to Germany, largely because of the absence of former Olympic and world champion men's 110 meter hurdler Liu Xiang, who has not competed since walking away from his heat at last year's Beijing Olympic Games. China ended up with only two track and field medals - both bronze, at the Games.

An unexpected silver medal from Wang Hao in the men's 20km walk on the opening day of the World Championships boosted the spirits of the China camp in Berlin. After that, China's Liu Hong finished third in the equivalent women's event and Gong Lijiao claimed a bronze in the women's shot put.

Bai's surprise victory on the final day earned high praise and she is now seen as a potential gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics.

"We will pay more attention to elite international coaches and combine their experience with our own situation," Du told the China Daily.

Brendan joined The China Daily in 2007 as a language polisher in the Language Tips Department, where he writes a regular column for Chinese English Language learners, reads audio news for listeners and anchors the weekly video news in addition to assisting with on location stories. Elsewhere he writes Op'Ed pieces with a China focus that feature in the Daily's Website opinion section.

He received his B.A. and Post Grad Dip from Curtin University in 1997 and his Masters in Community Development and Management from Charles Darwin University in 2003. He has taught in Japan, England, Australia and most recently China. His articles have featured in the Bangkok Post, The Taipei Times, The Asia News Network and in-flight magazines.