Opinion | China’s quest to become a sporting nation: why money cannot solve a cultural problem
- China is pouring money into athletic programmes, facilities and infrastructure looking to become a sporting nation like the United States
- Deep cultural differences between the two present serious challenges for China in its quest to rule the sporting world
As much as this pains me to say as a Canadian, there is no denying the United States is the world’s premier sporting nation.
They have the second most Winter Olympic medals, behind only Norway, and close to 700 more Summer Olympic medals than any other nation. When it comes to North American sport leagues, they are dominated by Americans sans the National Hockey League which is 54 per cent Canadian.
What’s most fascinating about the US is their ability to cultivate premier programmes and athletes quickly in new sports.
Take USA Rugby, the governing body that was only founded in 1975, which now has the men’s 15s team ranked 12th in the world less than a year ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. The sevens team is also on the rise out of obscurity after impressive crowd numbers at last year’s 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in San Francisco.
And despite failing to qualify for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia, American soccer is trending upwards with the team ranked 23rd, although one could argue breaking into the upper echelon of that sport may be permanently futile.