Why has China become an Olympic power? Understand how the country takes sports seriously
Brasil de Fato
The People’s Republic of China won its first Olympic medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, a few years after it resumed membership of the International Olympic Committee in 1979.
In the last seven Olympics, from the Sydney Games in 2000 to the recent Paris Games, China has remained in the top three in the medals ranking. After the Soviet Union, no other country from the Global South has managed to stay at the top of the ranking for so many editions of the Games.
Since their first participation in 1952, the Soviets have competed in nine Olympic Games, coming first in six and second in the rest. In 1992, 12 of the 15 countries that made up the Soviet Union participated together under the name of the Unified Team in Barcelona and came first despite the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union.
China’s high performance is no coincidence. At least in the beginning, the national system (举国体制 [jǔguó tǐzhì]) drew on the experience of the Soviet Union’s policies, also in sports.
A document on the General Administration of Sports of China website states that the “nationwide system” for competitive sports “is a product of the planned economy period.” Its main feature is that the government manages sports affairs, allocates resources to sports, and integrates management, training, competitions, and other aspects at a national level.
The structure has three foundations: sports committees at all levels (national, provincial, etc.) centralize the management system, professional sports teams centralize the training system, and the National Games centralize the competition system.
Developing elite athletes
The director of Tsinghua University’s Sports Industry Development Center, Wang Xueli, told Brasil de Fato that the selection of athletes who end up representing China in championships differs depending on the sport. A group of experienced coaches developed a championship model for different types of sports. “For example, some sports select children from an early age, but others only do so in their teens, which is the ideal time for them to become professionals or be part of the national team,” explains Xueli.
Certain sports also require criteria for children’s development and physical fitness. The General Administration of Sports recommends sports such as basketball, tennis, and football for children between 12 and 18 since teenagers “are suited to training to increase bone density and explosive strength.”
The organization suggests sports with less physical effort, such as swimming, for children aged 5 to 7 because the “development of the cardiovascular system is slower than that of the motor system.”
The government provided accommodation, food, education, and a subsidy for this model. Until the 1990s, this was one of the main reasons for low-income families in rural areas to send their children to this sports training. “Now, for most families, if the sport isn’t too risky, they’ll send their children to start training,” she says.
The sports schools
The sports school system, which has existed since 1955, provides sports training for athletes who will pursue a career. According to the General Administration of Sports, in 2022, there were 2,196 such schools. In recent years, the system has sent an average of 4,000 people to outstanding sports teams annually.
These schools can be at the provincial or municipal level. They are responsible for selecting children and teenagers and offering general education, not just training in a specific sport. “As the children grow up, they start participating in competitions of different ages, and if they manage to be among the best, they move on to the next level of competition,” explained Xueli.
Selectors can choose children or teenagers based on their age for the municipal, provincial, or national team. Afterward, they can attend one of the country’s 36 sports-specific universities or colleges.
In China, all sports have national competitions, so this is another way of developing and selecting talent. The most recent forms involve sports subjects that are not part of the primary school curriculum due to the country’s economic development.
Wealthy families hire coaches for their sons and daughters in sports such as golf or tennis. In these cases, the state contacts the families to offer them the opportunity to represent China. Lin Xiyu, the Chinese golfer who won bronze at the Paris Olympics, is one of them.
Children practicing wushu during a summer sports camp in Chongqing / Xinhua
China’s sports policy priorities
Currently, the country’s sports priorities are three: strengthening its role in social development, increasingly integrating sports training and education into the education system in general, and promoting the role of sports in the country’s economy.
Regarding the first one, Wang Xueli says that there are many sports policies for everyone. The State Council’s Nationwide Physical Fitness Plan defined this objective in July 2021. The plan set the goal of having 38.5% of the population exercise regularly, which would mean an increase of 1.3 percentage points compared to the previous five-year plan.
This set of policies aims to make more sports facilities accessible to everyone, ensuring they are no more than 15 minutes away from their apartment or house. Wang says that “We also have a lot of mass competitions for ordinary people, in general, to take part in.”
In 2022, China’s main economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, announced an investment of more than 2 billion yuan (around US$ 280 million) to build 185 sports facilities, such as sports parks, gyms, and public outdoor sports facilities.
At the end of last year, the country updated the plan to include more investment in constructing and improving outdoor sports facilities and services and creating a national trail system for the general population.
The Tsinghua University Sports Industry Development Center director states that investment in China is significant but not necessarily “for the financing of isolated individuals.” “I would say that government money is being spent on Fitness for All activities, especially on building infrastructure, sports facilities, and exercise venues.”
In 2023, the number of sports venues across the country reached 365,900, an increase of 8.7% compared to 2022. The sports area per capita increased to 2.89 m² in the country. For comparison, in 2013, there were 12.45 venues for every 10,000 inhabitants, and the area per capita was 1.46 m². Even so, China considers the current figure low compared to countries like Japan, whose area is 19 m².
Sports in schools and as an industry
The second priority is incorporating more varied sports practices into everyday school life. Several policies have been implemented in the last decade to promote school sports education. “In our normal schools, we have sports and physical exercise classes. But this is not professional sports training. In general, we have another set of institutions for these youth sports,” Xueli points out.
According to Wang, the third aspect has to do with the promotion of sports in the country’s economic development, industry, and services. The policies here focus on promoting competitions and events and combining sports with tourism. The General Administration of Sport predicts that the sports industry could account for 4% of the country’s GDP by 2035.
One way China has been working is by popularizing competitive events. “These events should go to every community, to the shopping malls, to the most famous tourist areas,” she says, stressing that medals are not the most important thing.
“Maybe in the next few years, China won’t continue to win so many medals; I don’t think people here care so much about the number of medals,” says Professor Xueli, who states that today no one takes these numbers as seriously as they did a few decades ago.
“We care how hard our athletes worked, how much effort they put into competing and representing the nation. That’s enough for us”.
