Nation's latest medal hope

Ma Junren, a controversial Chinese track coach, is committed to building his new "Ma Jia Jun" (Ma Family Army). His team comprises some dogged members - Tibetan Mastiffs.

Ma captured worldwide attention when his team broke national and world records 66 times in the middle and long distance women's track events. But six of his athletes failed drug tests at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, spelling the end of Ma's sports career.

Nowadays, he is training a team to compete in a very different field. Ma's dog base in Liangxiang in the northern suburbs of Beijing houses some 60 carefully selected adult Tibetan Mastiffs, while a new base is under construction in Dalian, Liaoning province. He has applied his years of experience training athletes to training his dogs.