This is a rare analytical piece by me.
So stories became fascinating for me. Whenever I meet people, I am keen to know their stories. Everybody has a river of stories flowing inside them.
I also realised the human story never grows old. It can withstand the passage of time. So I stuck to story. And I continue to do so.
COLUMN: The Tunnel Of Time
The 1990 Asiad turned out to be a victory party for the host nation. Shevlin Sebastian investigates the almost unbelievable success of the Chinese athletes at Beijing
Photos: Nikhil Bhattacharya
China has turned the Asian Games upside down. Never has any country so dominated a Games as China did at this year’s Asiad. A simple statistic proves the point: of the 262 gold medals at stake, China won 183. By contrast, India collected just 59 medals.
Most journalists and foreign visitors at the Games were confronted with an extraordinary spectacle. We would keep an eye on a race or an event, wait for it to start. The pistol would go, and predictably, the crack of the gun was followed by the sight of the red flag moving into the lead, unchallenged, untouched. Seconds or minutes later, the same flag would break the tape first. No surprise at all.
The result: complete boredom.
Midway through the Games, out of 18 gold medals at stake, China won 17. There was almost a desperate hope that some other nation would win, just to make an impact. But no, the Chinese juggernaut just rolled on.
Each medal ceremony became a routine. We would stand up for the national anthem, watch the red flag with one large yellow star and four small ones in a semicircle sway in the breeze, and hear the anthem repeatedly. Hours of cheering by the spectators, the waving of miniature red flags, and then another medal for China.
As the days went past, curiosity grew about how the Chinese managed to perform so magnificently at the Games. Interviews with a cross-section of journalists, athletes, officials, and trainers revealed the answer: planning and preparation on a massive scale.
THE PLAN
At the ’86 Seoul Asian Games, China came first in the medals tally but only narrowly, with 94 gold medals to South Korea’s 93. But even then, Beijing worried. Yet when China competed in the Seoul Olympics two years later, it won only 10 gold medals. This was in sharp contrast to the 50 medals claimed at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
The government sat down, or rather, called in the national sports organisations, and reviewed the situation. The conclusion: more attention and more money had to be diverted into sport. Soon, there was a nationwide campaign to make people aware of the need for China to excel at the Games.
As hosts of the 1990 Asiad in Beijing, the government propagandists stressed, it was imperative that China give its best performance.
Thus, within a couple of months after the Seoul Asian Games, training camps were set up both at the national and provincial level. It was a systematic, long-term programme aimed to culminate at the Beijing Asiad.
The plan has worked perfectly. Because of it, China is today on top of the pile. But what were the other factors that contributed to this extraordinary success?
THE MOTIVATING FACTORS
What made the Chinese athletes train so assiduously, to push themselves so hard, that they performed so well? What motivated them?
A) Patriotism
B) Money
C) Fear
PATRIOTISM: Perhaps one of the singular and unwavering qualities of the Chinese people is their deep sense of patriotism. Frequently, on the winners’ rostrum, as the national anthem was being played, a Chinese gold medallist would wipe away tears of joy. “No matter how angry they may be against the government,” said Wang Shenguin, an official, “we are a deeply patriotic people.”
Moreover, this was the first time China was holding such an extravagant sporting event, where the eyes of Asia would be on them. The Chinese believed that as host nation, not only should they show utmost respect and deference to foreign guests, but they must also put up their best performance. And you could see it on hoardings across Beijing: ‘We must do our best’ or ‘We must stand up proud in the world.’ The message was clear: China must rule.
MONEY
Another great incentive for intensive and sustained training was the prospect of money and jobs. In China, the average person and the average athlete earns about 100 yuan (Rs. 500) a month. Although clothing, food and shelter are subsidised (for example, in Beijing, rents of apartments are fixed at five per cent of your salary), living is a tight financial squeeze. For most athletes, a good performance promised a better future.
The government offered incentives of 3,000 to 5,000 yuan (Rs. 13,000–15,000) for a gold medal. To Indians, this might not be much. But, says Zweng Huang, an athlete, “In China, it is a lot of money.”
The general feeling that sporting success could mean more money was reinforced by the great, successful former gymnast Li Ning after retiring from competition.
The multiple Olympic gold medallist started his own business, a clothing line in his own name, and because of his famous name has been highly successful. Time and again, in Beijing, one came across young people wearing T-shirts with the name Li Ning emblazoned in white across the back.
Li Ning is rich now, and has a flat and a car, and sport was his route to money and fame. He was a shining example for all to see.
FEAR
The fear of the State, the repercussions of failure, also accelerated the athletes’ drive. The State was spending money on the athletes and the State wanted rewards.
The State, in the form of coaches and officials, put immense pressure on the athletes, and there have been documented cases of athletes suffering a nervous breakdown because of these pressures.
On the flip side was the danger of failing. In China, there are hundreds of athletes who have not won anything. They are unknown. And because they were involved in sports for so long, they were unable to develop a new skill.
Some tried to go back to university but most settled for working jobs in departmental stores or as gardeners and workers in factories. “It’s a tragedy,” said an athlete who requested anonymity. “If you don’t win anything you are nowhere. No education and no medal. People don’t care about you.”
POVERTY, DRUGS AND TRAINING
Another interesting fact was that most of these athletes came from low middle-class or poor families. Poverty thus became another factor. For example, the new gymnastics star, Li Jing, comes from a poor family in Hunan province. He was selected for gymnastics at an early age, struggled and practised remorselessly, and now, after twelve years, has achieved nationwide fame.
So, it was these factors that have collectively pushed the Chinese to excel. Yet it is imperative to add that they were aided by a superb system set up by the Chinese sporting authorities. The two-year camps were brilliantly organised on scientific lines, programmed so that an athlete would reach his peak during the Games.
An average day in the camps would consist of long-distance runs, weight training, physical fitness and practising for a specific event. Then there would be psychological classes, the need to develop mental strength and to stay calm. There were further classes then on strategy and tactics.
This took about four hours every day. It was four hours for two long years. At the most, the athletes were allowed to go out for a few days during the spring festival, which is in February, and in October, when the National Day celebrations took place. Otherwise, it was just training, training, and more training.
China was also blessed by the fact that they had highly competent coaches.
Said Win Shangquin, a Xinhua news agency journalist: “A qualified coach is necessary. Hard training is one thing, but good coaching is needed to complement the hard training. China, thankfully, has many qualified coaches, especially in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Canton. And because the government was keen, all the training camps were provided with the best equipment.”
Yet there were also consistent accusations of widespread doping. No single Chinese person admitted in private about this, such was their deep fear or perhaps their deep patriotism.
But as Jeremy Walker of the South China Morning Post said: “I think it is obvious. It is impossible to have such a high level of performance without the help of drugs. I am sure the 400m hurdles winner was on drugs. She looked so tired after the race. And there were hints of a moustache and a beard on her face. And the Chinese have so many herbal drugs that the Western world has not even heard about, let alone put them on the banned list.”
And here in Beijing, with the doping tests being supervised by the organising committee (and let’s face it, China has a powerful voice in the Olympic Council of Asia), the chances of a Chinese getting caught was relatively slim. “I am sorry to say it but I am convinced that they are taking drugs.”
NATURAL SELECTION
To produce winners, you need to select athletes from a large section of the population, so that the best talent can be weeded out. And in China, they have a superb system that enables them to select athletes at an early age.
Firstly, when a child shows a particular talent for a particular discipline, the school recommends his name to the sports council of the province. The sports council then tests whether he is a deserving case. If yes, they recommend his name to the national association. The national association receives a list of names and then selects and chooses the best among them. The selected few are put into sports schools.
In these sports schools, children are given special training in their specific sport. They do their normal studies but, in the evening, they are given two hours of special training. They are put on a free diet but the food is rich and nutritious.
The admission age for these schools depends on each specific sport, but the age varies from 8 to 13 years. For weightlifting, it is from 14 to 17, while for gymnastics, children are admitted when they are five years old. Five years old! Can you imagine putting a child under intensive and systematic training at five years of age?
Every now and then, there is a monitoring of the student. If he does not improve after a period of training, he must leave. On the other hand, an outstanding student may be selected by a city, a province, or a national side.
There are 3,411 such schools across China and so far, they have produced 80–90 percent of China’s national team and 90 percent of China’s World and Asian record holders. Names like high jump record holder Zhou Jianhua and Li Ning are the ones that come to mind. They are all products of these sports schools.
But there is now a backlash against these sports schools across China. Parents now resent losing their children to a sports school. And this has become even more pronounced ever since the government announced that a couple can have only one child.
“So, people don’t want their children to go into sports,” said a People’s Daily journalist. “When you do sports, you can’t do your studies well and if you are not successful like Li Ning, you are nowhere.”
The result is that fewer children are being enrolled in these sports schools. Admitted Wang Chen, a director of a sports school: “Despite the fact that the sports school has been successful, we have a lack of promising students.”
Not surprisingly, this is really worrying the Chinese sports authorities. They believe now that their chances are bleak of duplicating their present performance in Hiroshima in 1994.
Nevertheless, that is the future. Today, China is the hero of the Games. Statistically they are untouchable.
In swimming, out of a total of 36 gold medals at stake, they won 28.
- In rowing, out of 12, they won 12.
- In Wushu, out of 6, they won 6.
- In cycling, out of 11, they won 6.
- In weightlifting, out of 19, they won 12.
And out of the 198 multiple medal winners at the Games, 82 were Chinese.
You know, they made a mistake. Instead of calling it the Asian Games, they should have simply called it the Chinese National Games.
(Published in Sportsworld, October 17, 1990)
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