By: William Tao, D.Sc.
(part 2)
The following Thoughts are my evaluation on certain topics of the 29th Olympics. I would appreciate to receive comments on any of the topics covered herein as well as additional topic. The reader shall refer to the proceeding section- Thoughts about the Beijing Olympics, for my overall evaluation of this historical event.
What is the true meaning of Medals
Of the total 958 medals awarded at the 2008 Olympics, USA got 110; China got 100; and the rest countries 748 medals. So neither USA nor China can claim the majority. Of the total 302 gold medals issued, China got 51, USA got 36. So neither China nor USA can claim to win the majority medals either.
If we would analyze the type of sports that each country excels in, we would find China earned more gold in the skill type sports, such as Table Tennis, Badminton, Diving, Gymnastics, target shooting, while USA won more in physical strength and team sports, such as Track-and-Fields, swimming, basketball, volleyball, soccer and the like.
Wikipedia, the internet Encyclopedia, has assigned a numerical value to the kind of medals by giving 4 points for gold, 2 points for silver and 1 point for bronze. By numerical value counts, China definitely is the winner having 274 points and USA is slightly behind with 258 points.
However, on population basis, the total medals earned by China and USA really are not to be proud of. The winners and losers of several selected countries are:
* Jamaica 1.48 medals per Million population (MPM),* New Zealand 0.73 MPM* Australia 0.53 MPM* Britain 0.28 MPM* USA 0.09 MPM* China 0.03 MPM* India 0.001 MPM
If we would objectively analyze the true meaning of sports as an indication of its population's physical conditions and sophistication on team sports, such as baseball and American football when team strategy is as important as physical ability of individuals, one must agree that China is far behind that of the western countries. China did not win any team sports and has only one super athlete, Mr. Liu Xiong in 110 meter huddles. China won many diving medal, but only a few in swimming races.
It should be clear to the Chinese sports authority that China must train additional athletes in those physically demanding sports as well. China was known as the "sick men of Asia" that was in the past, but is still the "weak men of Asia" until China can excel in the other sports.
In fact, during the 1980s, when Taiwan has only a population of 20 million, it has produced two world leading athletics - Yang Cheng Kuang (world record holder of Decathlon) and Gee Zheng (world record holder of women's 100 meter dash and high huddles). Granted both athletes are of the Taiwan's mountain region minority group, but China has event more minority groups that live in the mountainous regions where physical strength is still part of the daily life. Some of the more physically capable group should be trained and represent China in the future Olympics.
The controversy about the Age of Chinese gymnastic Girls
The China team consists of 5 or 6 young girls from 5'2" to 5'6" pigmies. Documentation proves these girls are 16 or older, but they really look much younger. My question is why only train those under age and under sized girls? There got to be many equal or better skilled girls of more normal height that can be trained. In fact these medal winning girls of 2008 should grow taller and better trained for the 2012 Games in London. For one thing they will certainly look better when they are coming of age.
The mystery about missing Spectators
Even with the half empty hotels, we have difficulty to buy extra tickets and were told that all tickets were sold out either by allotment or by lottery. Yes, some tickets can be bought in black markets for 5 to 10 times their face value. As much as I like sports, I am not willing to pay for these. But to my surprise during the first few days of many events we attended, such as tennis, beach volleyball and even swimming and basketball, the seats are only partially filled. In the case of a tennis match, there were only couple hundreds spectators scattered in the 3000 seat stadium. This situation has brought complains from the International Olympic Committee and was remedied in later days including the 90,000 seat Bird-Nest main stadium when the seats were almost at least 80% occupied. I can not figure out how this situation was corrected. One speculation is that the Beijing Olympic Committee has issued many free tickets to fill the seats. The question still remains what happen to those tickets supposes to be sold? Does that mean Chinese people buy tickets just to provide financial support, but really don't like to watch these uncivilized activities? I am still looking for answers.
Inexperience in preparing for the large crowds
Even with the small crowds, food service booths are out of supplies most of the time. There were only few small sales booths for souvenirs of limited selection. Olympics logo pins are sold for high prices partially due to monopoly and partially due to expensive packaging.
People have to walk from ?to 1 mile from taxi and bus drop off locations to the venue. This can not be attributed to security procedures where a 500 to 1000 feet separation will be sufficient to provide safety for the stadium and the crowds.
(There are other topics I could include, but I will stop at this point waiting for feedbacks from friends or other publications for comments for which I will incorporate into this document as a summary of constructive criticism, compliments or suggestions to guide the future of Chinese sports.) |
