RIO DE JANEIRO, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The battle for most gold medals from next year's Olympic Games will probably be fought between the United States, Russia and China, said a top US sports official.

"I believe that (the race) will be very competitive," Steve Roush, Chief of Sport Performance of US Olympic Committee (USOC), told Xinhua Monday in an exclusive interview.

Roush said that based on his calculations of last year's world championships titles, China would replace the United States as the world's No. 1 sporting power.

"My calculations had China last year winning 43 gold medals, and we won 36. Russia had 35," he said.

"While China and the United States are looking at each other, Russia may be the one that sneaks up there and do an exceptional job ... So I think the three countries are vying for that top spot. Not just two."

The United States finished atop the medal charts at Athens 2004 for the third straight Summer Olympics, with Russia the overall runner-up and China second in gold medals _ its best showing ever.

Chinese sports authorities have tried to avoid talks of the possibility that China tops the medals table at the 2008 Games.