Why China’s elite athletes soar internationally as its schoolkids plod at home
While Beijing spends heavily training elite athletes to win gold medals, its young people remain unable – or reluctant – to exercise owing to a lack of facilities, a shortage of qualified teachers and safety concerns
While Beijing spends huge sums of money selecting and training athletes to win medals at international sporting events – more than 1 billion yuan (US$146 million) last year alone, according to data from the General Administration of Sport – young Chinese remain unable, or reluctant, to find the time and space to exercise.
They are daunted by a lack of facilities, a shortage of qualified teachers, safety concerns and other issues, observers said.
Moreover, the lack of athletic engagement and opportunities to exercise outdoors could be contributing to the dramatic rise among Chinese children of the twin epidemics of obesity and myopia, research suggests.
The inconsistency between competitive sports and participation among young people was highlighted earlier this month when China once again topped the medal table at the Asian Games.
Over the course of two weeks in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang, China amassed 289 medals – 132 gold, 92 silver and 65 bronze. Its nearest rival was Japan, with 205 medals, including 75 gold.