China’s President Xi Jinping promised in the run-up to games that live up to the Olympic motto: “Faster, higher, stronger – together”. But what is the importance of sport in China – and how has it changed over time? The freelance journalist and author Ronny Blaschke explains why athletic performance was once branded as “capitalist” – and how the Communist Party adorns itself with sports heroes today.
SRF News: How important is sport for China today?
Ronny Blaschke: It’s historic that Beijing was the first city to host the Summer and Winter Olympics. The 2008 Summer Games were more of a showcase for China’s global power aspirations. The Winter Games are smaller anyway, and this time they’re more introspective.
With the Cultural Revolution under Mao – this radical social restructuring with millions of deaths – the sport fell completely into disrepute.
On the one hand, China wants to develop winter tourism. Xi Jinping spoke of 300 million winter sports enthusiasts that one would like to reach. New infrastructure, railway lines and hundreds of ski areas are to be created. In addition, in a society without a free media, such a sporting event can generate a sense of togetherness – it can set patriotic tones.
What was the importance of sport after the Communist Party came to power in 1949?
For many years, China was not represented at all when it came to major sporting successes. At the 1956 Summer Games in Melbourne, seven years after the end of the civil war in China, the People’s Republic was very angry that Taiwan was also allowed to take part. As a result, frustrated and defiant, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) withdrew.
With the Cultural Revolution under Mao – this radical social restructuring with millions of deaths – sport, medal collecting, the meritocracy fell completely into disrepute. Many Red Guards demonized officials, coaches and athletes as capitalists. This led to some table tennis players, who had long been role models, being driven to suicide.
How did the patriotic pursuit of success get back into sport?
China then opened up to business and politics, also through ping-pong diplomacy, by the way. The People’s Republic not only joined the United Nations, but also the IOC in 1979. The big breakthrough for China in sport came with the local summer games in Beijing in 2008. At least since then, China has been a sporting superpower.
Since then, athletes have also been considered role models in China again?
That’s the interesting question. From sport we know the great individualists like Messi or Ronaldo. But is that even allowed in communism? The Chinese basketball player Yao Ming, for example, became rich in the North American professional league NBA – also with Western sponsors. Nevertheless, he is still well liked in his homeland and is allowed to act as an ambassador for the Olympic Games. However, he is also not very critical politically, so you can keep the balancing act.
Tennis player Li Na, on the other hand, became the first Asian to win the French Open in 2011. She didn’t want to go through with it. She has thanked her fans and carers – but not the nation, the Communist Party. That is why it is still kept out of historiography today. Nobody is allowed to shine more than the system – and that also applies to athletes.
The conversation was conducted by Sandro Della Torre.