Non-Olympic Sports National Games, New Start for China's Mass

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 04, 2002

Non-Olympic Sports National Games, New Start for China's Mass

China's 2nd Non-Olympic Sports National Games which concluded here on Monday have been hailed as a significant start of the country's nationwide fitness program "Sports for All".

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China's 2nd Non-Olympic Sports National Games which concluded here on Monday have been hailed as a significant start of the country's nationwide fitness program "Sports for All".

The 10-day national games for non-Olympic sports drew a record field of 5,400 athletes, coaches and officials from 30 Chinese provinces, municipalities autonomous regions, sports associations of professional trades, sports universities and colleges as well as those from the Hong Kong Special Administration Region and Taiwan Province. Listed on the games program were 227 events of 22 sports.

The brand-new event has turned out a unique type of its own, which is different from the quadrennial national games with only Olympic sports listed as medal disciplines.

What is more important is that the traditional concept of "all for gold medals" had been abandoned here while everyone involved had committed himself to the far-sighted goal of physical fitness and cultural civilization.

"Everyone has made his efforts to make the 'Sports for All' program even more aware across the country," a veteran sports worker said.

People found that various things had been done in the games just for implementing the event's overall aim -- fitness, entertainment and commitment.

The national games for non-Olympic sports have been set a biyearly event, which is aimed for an even wider commitment by allthe amateur athletes representing the sports' highest national standard.

"It will be a real national sports gala, rather than national championships," a leading sports official said.

Such a radical change would put more pressure on local sports officials, who had been used to focusing their all-out efforts forwinning championship titles at national events. Now they had to switch attention to bringing more people to sports. More plans and funds are expected to be put in place for such a new goal.

According to statistics available, sports-active population in China has increased from some 31.4 percent in 1996 of the nation'stotal population to 34 percent by the end of 2000. And the average lifespan of the Chinese residents has jumped from 35 yearsbefore 1949 to 71.8 years by 2000.

"The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will surely be a great forceencouraging even more Chinese than ever before to commit themselves to sports, in a more relaxed manner, and a new era of sports has been ushered in," concluded Guo Min, a leading officialwith the State Sports General Administration.

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