It's time to walk the walk

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In the sports arena, no failure or success comes out of nowhere. Unexpected fiascos break people's hearts, but reflection, which is incapable of changing the current situation, makes people more desperate.
　　　　　　
For sports fans, it seems that something unacceptable is bound to happen in this extremely sweltering summer: On June 15, Chinese Men's National Soccer Team lost 1-5 to Thailand in a warm-up game; on August 9, Chinese Men's National Basketball Team lost 78-96 to Chinese Taipei at the quarterfinals of the Asian Men's Basketball Championships.

The fig leaves of the two most influential ball games are torn down one after another in mere two months. Even the craziest fans would not want to believe that these two fiascos are just accidents.

It is also in this summer that Sun Yang achieved his goal of winning three gold medals at the Barcelona World Swimming Championships. Lin Dan, the famous badminton player who entered the tournament with a wild card, won his fifth World Champions. In fact, Sun Yang had not received systematic training before the World Swimming Championships, while Lin Dan had not taken part in many competitions prior to the World Badminton Championships due to his recent marriage. But still, under such circumstances, they achieved great success at their World Championships. Their achievements are related to the firm foundation they laid before, and are manifestation of their strength which they gained through defeating competitors, or perhaps they won because "a lean camel is stronger than a horse".

Before Liu Xiang rose to fame, a predecessor of the track and field circle once said: It would be a great success if a Chinese contestant could stand on the racetrack in the 100 meters final at a World Championship or Olympic Games. Now, at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Chinese competitor Zhang Peimeng fell short at the last moment. Zhang was on the brink of making history for China's field and track cause. We wonder how many people know what that really means.

In the sports arena, no failure or success comes out of nowhere. When we win, we should think about what we have learned and what need to be learned. When we lose, we reflect on our shortcomings and find a way to fill the gaps. Unfortunately, no matter how painful these fiascos are, we only have the constant introspection, which can't help us solve the problems. So to speak, unexpected fiascos break people's hearts, but reflection, which is incapable of changing the current situation, makes people more desperate.

Reflection is not enough although rectification is necessary, and rectification shouldn't just be a perfunctory attempt to fool the public. Chinese football and Chinese basketball now face so many problems, if the authorities don't have the courage to carry out a drastic rectification, how can this industry obtain its determination to introspect and how can the public regain confidence in them?

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