"I am the right woman for the job and I can do it well," she told China Daily.

Gu Jun

Gu will tell the stories of six athletes from five continents, as well as focusing on key events like the torch relay, other human-interest stories and the city of Beijing as it heats up for the 2008 Games. But the main focus will be the 16-day Olympics.

"Olympic hurdles champion Liu Xiang and NBA star Yao Ming are on my list, but everything is changing and we have to watch their performances at the Games," she said.

Gu may be mingling with the stars now, but before she was introduced to the media last August, the public had no idea who she was.

She said documentary as an art form is still struggling to take root in China and the lack of exposure does not bother her.

Documenting the Olympics on celluloid is a well-established tradition that dates back to the 1912 Stockholm Games. Each Olympiad produces an official movie to join the growing library at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Gu Jun and her colleagues catch all the action at Good Luck Beijing Olympic test events. [Courtesy of Gu Jun]

Gu graduated from Beijing Film Academy in 1991 then went to work as a director for Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio, the principal base of documentary production on the Chinese mainland. Later, she switched over to state broadcaster CCTV.

Her previous work, a documentary on Beijing's preparations for the Games that has taken seven years to produce, helped her win the prestigious new Olympic assignment, she said.

Now Gu is close to wrapping up work on the two-hour-long documentary about the build-up to the Beijing Games that goes by the working title "Dream Making 2008".

The documentary records the changes in the capital as it prepares for the sport's biggest showcase from July 13, 2001, the day it won the bid.

"I had never worked on a project of this scale before," she said. "It has been really challenging."

The documentary devotes some space to the story of a family who used to live on the site of the National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, but is uprooted despite the fact that their ancestors had lived there for many generations.

Protagonist Na Zhong, 73, was feted as the oldest torchbearer at the 2004 Athens Games but he passed away shortly afterwards.

"My first shot was at Walixiang, where the Bird's Nest is located, and I have set up a camera near the construction site recording its progress for the last six years," said Gu. "I have recorded over 300 hours of material."

Her first documentary also focused on potential medal prospects and how security personnel are trained.

"I have been following one young gymnast for many years and it's really heartbreaking to see her put in so much effort and determination when it may or may not pay off," she said.

She also got to film crack military drills.