Although the Chinese excel in certain sports, many of the Middle Kingdom’s best athletes are notorious choke artists who disappoint almost as often as they impress. Maybe their inconsistency has something to do with China’s system of athletic development.

Whatever the case, conventional wisdom held that in ’08 a hometown crowd would drive Chinese athletes to overcome their performance anxiety and shine as brightly as the five stars on the country’s national flag. Yet some of China’s most high-profile athletes have delivered underwhelming performances in the last couple of months, revealing cracks in the country’s veneer of invincibility that could prove portentous in August.

The first ill omen came when Guo Jinging stumbled during the women’s 3m springboard preliminary at the FINA Diving World Series in Nanjing on May 30 and failed to advance to the finals. Unsubstantiated pregnancy rumors may have contributed to her subpar performance. Or maybe an explanation can be found at the bottom of a baijiu bottle. I have it on good authority that Guo drank too much, then threw up at a party in mid-May.

In fact, China’s entire diving team has been looking less than stellar as of late.