Sport in China

All that gold does not glitter

Questioning a sporting triumph

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Readers' comments




You're right. If we could divert the battlefield to sport vs. military power it would be a very good thing, but I fear that horse left the barn. Getting it back would be an admirable goal, but (and there's always a "but"), would merica, or any other democratic nation be able to harness their people to a national goal to the degree the Chinese do - or would they want to?

Civil liberties? We view athletes as people, the Chinese see them as instruments of national power. We could of course institute a draft of promising athletes, as do the Chinese, how would that go over in the USA? It's Sparta vs. Athens, on Spartan terms.

Bosco WJ

Regarding the Olympics, yes ,as your comment and many people said, we have many disadvantage : Unequal investment to Elit Sports compared to Education and Public Sports .It is True .
The Gold Sporter have less education and their Self-Quality are not very good.
But our nation and our people have recognized the problem and we are searching the way to settle the problem,especially so many bad comment from such foreigner and websit , Why do not we improve ourselves ?!
Then you can see, we are not Stone People, we are flexible.

Bosco WJ

The artical title make me shocked and uncomfortable .
After reading all , i think it is not proper to use such title to mislead people and give us bad feeling.
I am Chinese, I like to visit here to see some comment, especially see criticism to China ! also other American Website. It is thankful I can get many many comment and useful words from all of foreigh comment even though almost there are serious criticism and Bias . We accept them and think about ourselves : Do we have ? Do we need improve ? Do we need change ? Yes, maybe you have bad purpose, but we just take the useful thing and do not care your purpose .
This is the reason China will be stronger and stronger . We really do not need your nice words because our internal comment give too much .


MichaelMDUSA:Like it or not, athletic prowess and military/political power are indeed the same yang to the yin of rebuilding Sichuan and keeping the iron rice bowl stainless in the mind of the CCP. So yes, I do believe that spending on the Olympics diverted aggressive energy/revenue from militaristic pursuits in China.Regarding the topic of dominance, I agree with your premise that the world seeks balance (and the titillation that comes from competition). What I am calling attention to is the double standard of this publication. There is a distinct lack of objection whenever the USA or UK leads in any field of endeavor (which is understandable, given the parochialism that besets all of us). Whenever a non-Western entity evinces success however, there is a fusillade of backhanded attempts to discredit that success.I have a practical recommendation that I think would satisfy all parties: the USA should spend less on the military so that some semblance of balance is restored in that arena, and spend more on athletics so that it can give China a serious run for its gold in 2012.



Is your premise that Chineese spending on sport diverts money otherwise spent on military power, and is therefore something to be encouraged? Phan Kane hasw the right of it in that regard. China has many rice bowls waiting to be filled in-lieu of sport, or military power.

At best, Olympics medals have some perceived informational relevance among the diplomatic, informal, military, and economic dimensions of national power. But really, in the present day, are medals are a measure of any country's development or merit?

That may have, in the past, in some respects in a pure form be true (when physical prowess was key to military victory), but since the advent of gunpowder, pure physical capability is a moot point on the battlefield.

Taken to a basic fundamental point, winning international sporting comeptitions are validation of the genetic fitness of a group to wage war, and thus deter aggression. And, on reflection, maybe that's what the Chinese think, but their synchronized swimmers and underage gymnasts will fare poorly when confronted by American Marines.

As for revenue, if it were a foregone conclusion that any country had a "lock" on any sport, media outlets would not participate because people would not bother to watch. Why else do political pundits continue to perpetrate the possibility of a McCain victory in November?




Britain has done something much greater than China. According to reports Iraqi athletes, wearing secondhand clothes, can't afford to buy a Fuwa, the mascot. It's well known that Britain supported(I am not sure whether the government is still thought what they have done is correct) America, the sporting superpower as this article calls it, to attack Iraqi, which ruins the whole country. Every day, innocent Iraqis are killed by guns, bombs, hunger, thirst and diseases. Not to mention the Iraqi's currency depreciation.


I think the comments in the article are somewhat sound, though the title is a little misleading and makes one feel uncomfortable.

There is no denying that Beijing Olympic Games is a success in which the whold world witness the miracle of Philleps's eight gold medals, Bolt's 9.68s and 19.30s and it is the first in history that China, as a developping country, occupies the first place in the gold medal list. The opening ceremony is extraordinary and the closing one is outstanding. Chinese people welcome the arrival of Olympic Games in a friendly and embracing way, while the whole Game proceeds without a hitch.

We can say that the article somehow criticizes the sports system in China. Though I feel embarassed more or less, I have to confess that it is to the point. What is below the shining surface is a crippled system on which China has spent or squandered too much money while sacrificing something valuable and unnecessary to the atheletes. For example, most of the athelets from China are less educated than average and it is not exaggerated to call them illiterates. They spend most of their middle school days, even premary school days in training and exercising, while they can be called "disabled" in education. Few of them are university students or excel in maths or write articles or even have other skills except their specialities. So it is comprehendable that after their retirmente, many of them will be specially admitted into some eminent universities under the halo of Olympic champion. It is a compensation but it can never requite what has been lost for ever.

The above-mentioned instance reflects the pivotal problem of Chinese sports: the disconnection between sports and education. It is no wonder to see the Chinese plays weeping with abondon after getting the medal. The tears are from the bottom of their heart, which are partly from their excitement and mostly from the conciousness that the rest of their life will be Ok. If not, their failure may mean that their life is wasted. Whenever we can tackle the confrontation between sports and education, then China would really become a giant in sports field.

By the way, though Chinese people would like to spend money on the sports events, be it our strong or weak ones, this morning I got the news that we invest more than 15 millons RMB on each gold medal winner. It is a shock to me and I think the price is to exorbitant. There must be some changes.

Undoubtedly, Beijing Olympic Games is a success and Chinese people love it, though I hear much malicious cacophony in many foreign newspapers and website such as The Times.

Great China, Best Beijing.

Allison Ma

Prejudice! Does that mean whoever overpass U.S.A will be criticized? And would you please tell me which talented althelte was not trained since young age? Do you know China and Chinese Culture? Do you know in China there is a sprit called" DEDICATION"?

China is definately different country from America and any other European countries, why do not you try to understand the difference?

By the way, Tibet issue belongs to China itself, they have right to judge their own territory and decide the result, would the World leave it to China alone?


For your "gold per million population" matrix to be valid, you need to allow equal number of athletes per million at the games!


Everything must have the advantages and disadvantages,and the key lies in how we overcome the poor and develop a good.
By the way, I like some article which criticize China in this website,because these give me mirror.

Phan Kane

This Olympic reminds me of my stupid relative; this guy is dirt poor, he does not buy food for his kids, his kids are skinny and hungry. Yet, on his ancestor's anniversaries, he borrows money and have a huge party to show off to his neighbors.I don't watch the opening and closing circus; I can not stand seeing the poor people being exploited.


I'll attempt a synthesis:(1) Might makes right,(2) Humility is golden,(3) (Non-USA) sports dominance is boring.Thus, a China that channels its energies from sport (via a spending cap, as suggested) into limitless military spending, yet wields that military power in a quiet way, would be a welcome development for the world. China should do as Teddy Roosevelt suggested, in other words.

weak reader

Deriba Merga finished the 2008 Olympic Mens' Marathon in fourth place. A few paces beyond the finish line, he looked at his watch and, with the slight unsteadiness of a person stepping from a slowly moving bus, Deriba Merga walked to his right and away from view.


MichaelinMDUSA:(1) Might makes right,(2) Humility is golden,(3) (Non-USA) sports dominance is boring.What is the common thread to your thinking here?



Guess it all comes down to what really matters, and in the overall global scheme of things, gold metals really don't count. Who can whip whose ass does - that's the final recourse of diplomacy, not who won the most medals in the last Olympics. Problem with the Olympics is that it's already old news.



I'm amazed you take that screen name, and then posit a false assumption based on demonstration of ego. We simply would have preferred Mr. Bolt to set an unbeatable record than play with us at the end. It was a potentially millenial event, squandered to a young mans ego - sure it was his to squander, but had he run a 9.5 at the Olympics in front of the world instead of showing his ass, he would have broken a boundary limiting all human beings. Instead he demeaned his god-given talent by giving in to personal ego gratification. At that pivotal moment, he wasn't Jamacian, he wasn't Bolt, he was a human about to cross a barrier, and his ego let us down.

Darden Cavalcade

The Beijing Olympic Games were the finest form of entertainment in human history. We will never see their like again, including the next time China hosts the games.China did its part by sparing no expense to make the facilities magnificent, provide a congenial atmosphere for foreign visitors, and put on the greatest opening and closing ceremonies anyone has ever seen. And the Chinese are to be congratulated for their athletes' outstanding achievements. Period.The Chinese patriots posting on this site are being churlish, however, when they fail to acknowledge that non-Chinese also contributed to the success of the Beijing games. Chinese athletes did not win all the medals. They did not set all the world records. And it is offensive in the extreme to diminish the achievements of non-Chinese athletes whose excellence contributed to the success of the games. You super-patriots should remember that China used the intellects and talents of foreign consultants in the design of the signature facility for the Beijing games. China used foreign entertainment consultants in designing the opening and closing Olympic ceremonies. The 2008 games were a worldwide human project. And it is unfair for China to pretend otherwise. Nevertheless, Chinese deserve credit for being a lavish host and fierce athletic competitor.Many of the Chinese who post on e-log sites in the Western press are students studying in the West. Your posts on this site caused me to re-read The Economist's article. And I have two comments for you. First, a geography lesson. The Economist is a UK news magazine, not American. If you don't like what The Economist says, by all means say so, but don't attribute the sentiment or words to Americans. Americans speak a dialect of English, but we aren't British. Trust me on that one.Second, when you return to China to grow your "boss's belly" be sure to remember that you could write anything you wanted on the Western internet, read anything you wanted, criticize any government policy or government official without fear of retribution, demonstrate openly without fear of sanction...and at home you can't. But by all means count your gold medals.


Perpetuation of this policy by China will doom the Olympics. No one but China can or will commit similar resources. When, by extension, results are predictable, no one will really care, except the Chineese, and their triumphs will be hollow. No one will watch, revenues will decline, and the Olympics will be in the same dustbin all "gamed" competitions end up. Professional sports instituted parity for a reason - dominance doesn't sell. The Olympics need a spending cap.


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