China on the move
BASKETBALL’S LIVING legend Robert Jaworski once said:
“China closed the door to the outside world and worked feverishly to improve its sports program. And with the help of its NSAs (national sports associations), the Chinese government took the lead in identifying its talents and training them to become world-class athletes. Now, China is an acknowledged world superpower not only in sports but in other aspects as well.” How true. I visited China twice (first, during the historic “Ping Pong Diplomacy” in 1972 and the following year, when it hosted the Afro-Asia Table Tennis Championships). Then, these Chinese athletes were virtually unknown to the outside world. But with the government backing them to the hilt, China’s athletic prowess became known far and wide.
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Rigorous training, diligent coaching and strong personal discipline are some of the reasons why Chinese athletes excel in the field of sports. Likewise, they are now reaping the benefits of economic reforms, thus raising their standard of living and eventually bringing better sports facilities and improving nutrition. “Eating disorders, that peril many women athletes in the West, were unheard of in China, perhaps because of the absence, until recently, of images in advertising,” said Alexander Wolff of Sports Illustrated. China’s domination of the recent First Youth Olympic Games in Singapore once more proved my point that the Chinese athletes are now well-armed to reign supreme in the world of sports. China is also considered a strong bet to rule the 2012 London Olympics, which the British capital also hosted in 1948.
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Recall that last April 2008, six months before the 29th Beijing Olympics got going, I wrote that China—which was hosting the Games for the first time—would dominate the quadrennial sports meet. I emphasized that the gritty Chinese athletes would win the most number of gold medals. The Chinese did not disappoint. They did garner the most number of gold medals, beating perennial gold-medal winner the United States and Russia.
With a population of a little over 1.2 billion, China has consistently made waves in past Olympic Games. In the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Chinese athletes captured only five golds and were hardly noticed. China later made big improvements in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996 by landing fourth both times, moved up to third overall in Sydney in 2000, and finished second in Athens in 2004.
“China closed the door to the outside world and worked feverishly to improve its sports program. And with the help of its NSAs (national sports associations), the Chinese government took the lead in identifying its talents and training them to become world-class athletes. Now, China is an acknowledged world superpower not only in sports but in other aspects as well.” How true. I visited China twice (first, during the historic “Ping Pong Diplomacy” in 1972 and the following year, when it hosted the Afro-Asia Table Tennis Championships). Then, these Chinese athletes were virtually unknown to the outside world. But with the government backing them to the hilt, China’s athletic prowess became known far and wide.
* * *
Rigorous training, diligent coaching and strong personal discipline are some of the reasons why Chinese athletes excel in the field of sports. Likewise, they are now reaping the benefits of economic reforms, thus raising their standard of living and eventually bringing better sports facilities and improving nutrition. “Eating disorders, that peril many women athletes in the West, were unheard of in China, perhaps because of the absence, until recently, of images in advertising,” said Alexander Wolff of Sports Illustrated. China’s domination of the recent First Youth Olympic Games in Singapore once more proved my point that the Chinese athletes are now well-armed to reign supreme in the world of sports. China is also considered a strong bet to rule the 2012 London Olympics, which the British capital also hosted in 1948.
* * *
Recall that last April 2008, six months before the 29th Beijing Olympics got going, I wrote that China—which was hosting the Games for the first time—would dominate the quadrennial sports meet. I emphasized that the gritty Chinese athletes would win the most number of gold medals. The Chinese did not disappoint. They did garner the most number of gold medals, beating perennial gold-medal winner the United States and Russia.
With a population of a little over 1.2 billion, China has consistently made waves in past Olympic Games. In the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Chinese athletes captured only five golds and were hardly noticed. China later made big improvements in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996 by landing fourth both times, moved up to third overall in Sydney in 2000, and finished second in Athens in 2004.
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