China’s strategy to dominate the medal table

For years, China has concentrated on “minor” sports in an attempt to win as many gold medals as possible. In Tokyo, there were 38, compared to 39 for the United States. Most of the successes were achieved in just six disciplines and mainly by women. A strategy that is still implemented in a highly centralized system, with strong shadows over the issue of doping.

Paris () – 405 Chinese athletes will take part in the Paris Olympics starting tomorrow, a figure slightly lower than that of the previous edition (413), where China came second in the medal table, behind the United States. What separates the two countries is a single gold medal. At the Tokyo 2020 Games – which were actually only three years ago – Chinese athletes won 38 golds and a total of 89 medals, compared to 113 for the Americans.

The first place in the medal table (which is achieved with the greatest possible number of gold medals, as was the case at the 2008 Beijing Olympics) is a matter of fundamental importance for China, to which the efforts of the various sports federations have been dedicated for years according to a highly hierarchical and centralized model whose vertex is the General Administration of Sportwhich in turn depends on the central government.

It is no coincidence that since 1984 (the year China first climbed to the top step of the Olympic shooting podium, after being accepted into the International Olympic Committee in 1979), 75% of Chinese gold medals have been won in just six sports: table tennis, shooting, diving, badminton, artistic gymnastics and weightlifting. These are disciplines that are often underfunded in the West and in which the Chinese have seen that they can prevail. This is also thanks to the recruitment of many women, who make up around 70% of the Olympic delegation.

The principle behind this strategy, adopted since the 1980s, is called the “five words” strategy: small, fast, female, agile and water. These are terms that summarise the criteria according to which the Chinese government selected the sports in which China could have a certain competitive advantage over the United States. And this potential has also begun to be exploited through a growing financial support(According to some estimates, the Chinese sports market will be worth $700 billion by 2025 thanks to the organisation of major events.)

Specifically, the studies explain that “small” refers to small balls (ping pong and badminton) but also to smaller categories (such as the 56kg and 62kg weights in men’s weightlifting). “Women” needs no explanation, while “agile” and “fast” refer to the tactical aspect of disciplines such as artistic gymnastics or trampolining, but also athletics. Finally, “water” refers not only to aquatic sports, but includes Project 119, which was launched after Sydney 2000 to improve performance in athletics, swimming, sailing and rowing.

However, it is precisely in water sports where a controversy has arisen in recent months after the New York Times revealed a series of doping cases among Chinese swimmers, who, instead of being suspended, were not only able to compete and excel in Tokyo, but some of them are also participating in the delegation to Paris, although they will be checked twice as frequently than athletes from other countries.

The 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for trimetazidine (a drug that increases blood flow) were cleared by an internal investigation by Chinada, the local anti-doping agency, which found that the athletes were accidentally exposed to the substance for seven months before the Tokyo Olympics. WADA, the world agency, has decided to accept the report, even though WADA is the one that should have suspended the Chinese athletes as a precaution before the Tokyo Games, as soon as it received the news of the positive test.

Beyond the use of doping substances (a problem that affects several disciplines and many countries), in China the recruitment of athletes takes place at a very early age. Physical education teachers are the ones who direct the most talented secondary school students towards a specific sport. From that moment on, the young people begin training in one of the provincial sports centres, with local coaches who work full-time and receive incentives from the Party if they manage to get their students to excel in national competitions. And, if deemed appropriate, they are transferred to national Olympic training centres.

It is understandable, then, that there is some competition between provincial and national training centers, such as Some foreign coaches pointed out hired by Beijing (with salaries that Western sports federations often cannot afford). And that is why Chinese athletes often achieve excellent results when they are very young, but do not find it easy to maintain a high level in adulthood and have careers as long as those of their Western adversaries.

Projections indicate big differences The odds of a draw between China and the United States at the Paris Olympics are high: while Beijing is confident of winning dozens of gold medals thanks to its level of perfection in a limited number of disciplines, Washington has a better chance in other sports, but at the same time its chances of reaching the top step of the podium are much less certain. The medal table will be finalised on 11 August, the closing day of the Games.

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