mid the bustle of Tiananmen is a large sign that once displayed a digital countdown of the seconds left before Hong Kong’s return to China. Today, the neon numbers are ticking off the moments until the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, when Beijing takes the world spotlight.
The city’s selection by the International Olympic Committee was monumental.
Beijing’s winning bid to host the games beat out ones from Toronto; Paris; Istanbul, Turkey; and Osaka, Japan.
With such a prominent event taking place in their own backyard, the Chinese have found a new enthusiasm for fitness and sports. Aquatic athletes are some of the nation’s top performers: Its diving team alone swept away the rest of the world at the last games in Athens, Greece.
Today, China’s swimming pools are overflowing with young girls dreaming of being like Guo Jingjing, the nation’s glamorous diving sensation.
The Chinese aquatics industry is well aware of the impact from Beijing’s successful Olympic bid. Pool construction and water-based fitness are all increasing as a result of the Olympics and an emerging middle class with money to spend.
While China prepares its capital city for the global attention and its athletes for a shot at the gold, the country’s aquatics industry fills the needs of a population clamoring for more.
A new era
China competed in the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games of 1932, but bowed out in 1956. In 1960 and 1968, the Nationalist government in Taiwan sent athletes in China’s place. It wasn’t until 1971 that the International Olympic Committee resolved the China-Taiwan issue and reinstated the People’s Republic as the official representative of the Chinese. This prompted the Nationalist government to pull out of the 1976 games because it could not compete under the name “China.”
Since then, China’s Olympic star has continued to rise. Today, the country ranks 16th on the all-time medal chart, an amazing feat considering its success only began in the past six games. China’s powerhouse diving team swept a record six gold medals in Athens 2004, totaling 19 in the past five Olympics (68 percent of gold medals awarded). China ranked third overall in medal count in the 2000 Atlanta Games, and then followed it up by climbing to second in Athens 2004. In 2008, China dreams of taking first, with swimmers eyeing the 84 medals lying poolside at the National Aquatic Center.
They have good reason to hope. A gold medal sweep at the East Asian Games in November proves that China is well positioned for strong performance on its home turf.
But China’s success — especially in swimming — did not come without controversy. Since 1990, more than 40 Chinese swimmers have failed drug tests. During the 1994 World Championships in Rome, 12 medals were accepted by Chinese swimmers while onlookers protested by waving syringes. In response to doping suspicions, China is enlisting a record 4,500 drug tests during its 2008 games, up from the 3,500 performed in Athens.
Diving, on the other hand, has gone a bit more smoothly. Linked closely to Chinese acrobatics, the sport has long been popular among many universities and local clubs. Unique training protocols developed over several years has toughened the athletes to a higher discipline than other nations’ divers. Among other methods, coaches videotape the divers and synchronize their movements on computers to ascertain exactly whether they have met their target. This type of training has been exported to other nations that hire Chinese coaches, now making diving an increasingly competitive sport.
Besides traditional water sports, China also competes in synchronized swimming and water polo, but neither one is terribly popular. China ranked 6th at the World Championships and 7th in Athens. This year, its first women’s water polo team was formed from a group of university players. They are hoping to perform better than the men’s team, which is notoriously weak. Both will compete in 2008.
Golden opportunity
China may be pleased with its athletes, but it is ecstatic over the opportunities that accompany winning an Olympic bid. “The Olympics brings a lot of construction, IT, trading and other services such as the tourist industry,” says Shu-Gang Wang, Ph.D., an associate professor at Peking University’s School of Economics in Beijing.
Experts estimate that the games will bring up to $16.39 billion in business from domestic and foreign investors. In addition, the Olympics will greatly impact the current sports industry, expected to reach $187.5 billion by 2050.
Already, China is making preparations for its world visitors. The gold and red paint on the Forbidden City is being re-touched, the famous Temple of Heaven is sheathed with scaffolding for massive restoration, parks are under construction and hotels are adding more rooms.
With the games also comes the expectation that participation will increase nationwide for sports where the country is most successful. The China Swimming Association already anticipates more swimmers and divers in its 10,000 natatoriums and aquatic parks. “In 2008, the Olympics will have a huge impact on the sport, and more people will … want to take part,” says Xiutang Shang, vice president of CSA in Beijing.
China, however, doesn’t have enough facilities to accommodate its huge population. Lack of pools is the biggest challenge to maintaining prosperous swimming and diving teams, according to Shang.
“More and more people are realizing that swimming is good for the health … and it’s a good way of keeping fit, but they can’t find enough pools,” he says.
In response, the government is planning to invest $625 million annually to construct more than 3,000 natatoriums, states CSA.
But even that won’t be enough to meet the growing demand. The Beijing Sports Bureau reports that by the 2008 Olympics, each of the city’s 18 districts will add at least one or two more natatoriums. CSA hopes that by 2008, the number of pools in the country will have doubled.
“There will be a great increase in public interest in the sport when people watch the games,” Shang says. “The development of pools and facilities will have a huge impact on the future development of the sport in China. In 2008, swimming and diving will produce good results.”
Shabnam Mogharabi contributed to this report.
