Advertisement
Advertisement
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Yao Ming and earthquake survivor Lin Hao lead the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium. Photo: Reuters

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games cemented China’s status as sporting powerhouse

  • August 8th marked anniversary of the opening ceremony of an Olympic Games where China dominated
  • Country topped the medal table just 24 years after it won its first medal in Los Angeles – in what was essentially its debut

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games on August 8, 2008, is still regarded as China’s coming out party to the world.

The two weeks that followed Zhang Yimou’s production, which culminated with former Olympic gymnast Li Ning circling the stadium roof on a wire before lighting the Olympic cauldron, cemented China’s place among the global sporting elite.

It is easy to forget that post-1949 China first sent a delegation of more than one athlete to an Olympics for the Los Angeles Summer Games in 1984 and they had opted out of taking part in every Games between 1956 and 1980. At that Los Angeles Olympics they also won their first medals – 15 golds, eight silver and nine bronze.

In just 24 years, they want from first-timer to both host and most dominant sporting superpower, as evidenced by the medal table from Beijing.

Fireworks explode next to the National Stadium, also known as the

China topped the medal table with 48 golds to the USA’s 36, winning 100 medals in total. China also swept the podiums in the men’s and women’s table tennis.

A decade on from Beijing 2008, is the Olympic legacy as bad as everyone says?

This was the pay-off of more than two decades of hot-housing young athletes, who were often selected when as young as six years old, in state-run sports schools and training programmes.

Chinese paramilitary police officers standing next to the National Olympic Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, during the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Photo: AP

The Chinese delegation of 639 was a world away from the 216 they sent to LA almost a quarter of a century earlier and remains the largest ever number of athletes to represent China at an Olympic Games.

They sent 396 athletes to London 2012, where they finished second to the US on the medal table – winning 38 golds to the US team’s 46. China won 91 medals in total. Four years later in Rio de Janeiro, there were 412 athletes competing under the Chinese flag and March of the Volunteers was played for 26 gold medals. China also claimed 18 silver and 26 bronze as they finished third overall behind the USA and Great Britain.

Tokyo 2020: Sun Yang leads China’s Olympic gold hopes a year out

With Tokyo 2020 now less than a year away, Chinese athletes are among the favourites for many events. The women’s volleyball team have already qualified for the Games and will look to defend the gold they won in Rio. Elsewhere, Chinese table tennis players remain dominant, while the pool is another area where China has rapidly risen up the rankings.

China’s ‘country above all’ view comes at a cost for nation’s female athletes

Sun Yang’s immediate future may be in doubt as he awaits a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport next month but, as he proved with two golds at the recent world championships in South Korea, he remains one of the best swimmers in the world. Others have followed and Chinese divers are a pre-eminent force.

The government and its sporting bodies will encourage these medal hopes to go all out for podium finishes in Japan

Beyond Tokyo, China is looking ahead to Beijing 2022, when the Winter Olympics comes to the capital and neighbouring Hebei province. That will see the Water Cube repurposed to become the Ice Cube, where it will host the skating events.

10 years on: what happened to Beijing’s Olympic legacy?

If 11 years ago was any indication, China will look to establish themselves among the global elite in winter sports with the Games on home snow – and another chapter in their ascent to the sporting summit will be written.

Post