I wouldn't go that far... Gaara is much stronger than people give him credit for...

until the exam, he was never harmed before, and he was in A-ranked missions, so it has to mean something...
when Lee dealt a blow to him, it was a small flash-wound, not more than a cat's scratch... and you should consider that Lee's taijutsu is nearing the rank of a jounin (unless you decide to go by Temari's words, which means that even she and Kankaru could handle some of his moves, and perhaps even win), which means that Gaara is basically at the level of a 'weak-medium' jounin...

and when Sasuke hurt him, it was by using a jounin level jutsu, and once by using the curse seal...
the only reason Gaara lost to Naruto (beside the fact that the plot called for it) was because they moved into the big guns section too quick, and the match became a challenge of power-ups, which is Naruto's field (seeing how Gamabunta is stronger than Shukako, and how Kyubi is an endless fountain of chackra)... if Gaara would have kept things small (human form) then he would have been able to kill Naruto in no time, even with only Taijutsu (and not even Sand Taijutsu, normal taijutsu)...

Gaara is stronger than almost anyone around, the rest of the sound as well, they just got bad match-ups in the fights, otherwise, they would have owned...

however, if Kimimaru was healthy, Gaara wouldn't have won, I think that kimi's ilness took alot out of him, you remember how he said to Tayuya that he's moving by willpower alone? it means something... and if you noticed, everytime he got crushed by sand, he had to stay in the next level to keep moving...


sorry for all the irrelvent talkings, i'm just really out of focus..