It's been a week since the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing. The Olympic events have been closely followed by the U.S. media and many Americans. While people in the U.S. are happy with the performance of their national team, they are also seeing a stronger Chinese team, our Washington correspondent Shanshan tells us.

Ann: The first week of the Olympic Games has seen U.S. attention focused on swimming and gymnastics. And according to surveys conducted by NBC, the exclusive Olympic broadcaster in the United States, more people are watching this year's Olympic games than ever before. NBC's average viewership for the first two days has been 29.1 million, the best primetime viewership of a foreign-hosted Olympics in more than 30 years. On average, NBC coverage has attracted 30 million viewers on a daily basis, nearly four million more than four years ago in Athens. And it's not just American viewers; statistics show that nearly half the viewing audiences in France and Italy are tuning in.

Swimming has been the most frequently played event on NBC in the first week. Michael Phelps has been the lead story every day as he moves closer to his goal of winning eight gold medals at a single Olympics.

Charles Lee, a government official, is confident that Michael Phelps will achieve his goal.

"I thought they did exceptionally well. I really think he's gonna win it all. He has got the confidence and the strength to do it. I think he's going to hold that title for a very long time."

Despite the overwhelming coverage of Michael Phelps in the U.S. media, some people are less than crazy about the swimmer's stunning performance. Viet is one of them.

"He's cool, but there's gonna be another Michael Phelps in another four years. It's the trend, so as the Olympians break another record like Michael Jordan, there's always a Kobe Bryant after that."

As the Olympic Games head into the second week, attention will shift to track and field, in which the United States is expected to bring in a pile of gold medals.

Many people are not sure whether the U.S. will continue to lead the medal count in the face of strong competition from China, like D.J Lawrence says.

"I think China will probably win by a few."

As Charles Lee sees it, China will lead in the gold medal tally, while the United States will bring home the most medals.

"China has got a very strong team, and they are very good in everything they do. China's got the gold, I think it'll be China in the gold part, but the overall count of medals, the U.S. has the most so far, and I think we're gonna keep that."

SS, CRI News, Washington.