The United States will spend over $500,000 setting up a high-performance training centre at a Chinese university as part of their final preparations for the 2008 Olympics, the US Olympic Committee (USOC) said yesterday.

The training centre will be established at Beijing Normal University with housing, training and restaurant facilities for about 400 athletes, the USOC said in a statement.

"This complex at Beijing Normal University will establish a base for our athletes to prepare in their final stages prior to competition," Steve Roush, the USOC's Chief of Sport Performance, said.

"It allows the US Olympic athletes to train in conditions that are conducive for high performance and it provides the comforts of home with great facilities, good restaurants and sleeping space for our team before the Games."

The university is located about 15 minutes from the Beijing Games's Athletes Village. The site has two 400-metres tracks, one with a grass infield, the statement said. Work has also begun on a gymnasium complex and aquatic facilities.

The centre will include meeting rooms for coaches, a video set-up that provides quick feedback and scouting for US coaches, and a technology centre, the USOC said.

Competitive field

The committee established a similar centre in Athens for the 2004 Games at the American University of Greece.

USOC Secretary General Jim Scherr told a news conference in Beijing: "The field of play is so much more competitive.

"The Chinese team is spending a tremendous amount of resources and energy on preparing their team. Russia will have a very competitive team and seems to get stronger at every games.

"We will bring a team that will compete as hard as we can."