Another Olympic medallist fronting up in Sydney will be D. Narmandakh, who took the bronze in the 60kg judo category at Atlanta. The third contender officials see as having a real medal chance is T.Vitumen, a boxer in the 60kg class who won a silver medal at the 1997 world championships and is also Asian champion. But the trail from the Mongolian steppes to Homebush is no easy one for Mongolian athletes. The cash-strapped Mongolian government has allocated a special budget for Olympics preparations for this year only. Aside from that, the Mongolian National Olympic Committee depends on sponsorships from private companies such as the giant Gobi Cashmere and Buyan Cashmere companies, along with the national airline MIAT and the Mongolian Railways.
Wrestlers are about the only group for which sponsorship money is virtually guaranteed.
For wrestlers it is no problem. In Mongolia, people like wrestling very much. By contrast, Mongolia's two-person swimming team faces an uphill battle. The swimming team, which qualifies automatically, is a bit of a problem for Mongolia's Olympic officials. In our blood we are very anti-water.