SLCJF hails Chinese rising at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London

By Nalin Aponso

President of Sri Lanka– China Journalists’ Forum



The Sri Lanka-China Journalists’ Forum (SLCJF) in praise of Chinese victories at the 2012 Olympics in London states that in UK states that the People’s Republic of China has been exemplary to the rest of the world in keeping the most competitive balance in all spheres of socio-economic structures to reach the most powerful economic force in the emerging global contexts.

The forum also  emphasises that the leadership extended by the friendly nation not only through viable financial assistance extended across the Asian regimes to stand on their own feet,  but also through the victories achieved at the 2012 London Olympics has  brought  glory not only to the Chinese nation but also to all friendly  nations in the region.

Glorious performance at Summer Olympics 2012 in London

With all glorious performances at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London China was ranked two with 38 Gold, 27 Silver and 23 Bronze medals. China also swept all four Olympic gold medals in table tennis, just like it did four years ago at home in Beijing. China has won 24 of 28 gold medals since the sport entered the Olympics in 1988. Table tennis has been dominated by Chinese players since its introduction to the Olympics. They won all four gold medals in Sydney 2000 and in Beijing 2008 they took every medal open to them.

WANG Nan won the women’s singles and doubles gold at Sydney 2000, added another gold in women’s doubles at the Athens 2004 Games, and was part of the victorious Chinese women’s team in Beijing.

The unsurpassed Chinese media patronage in London

By the end of the Summer Olympics 2012 the nation’s gold medal count has risen with  one in athletics, five in badminton, one in boxing, six in diving, two in fencing, four in gymnastics-artistic, one in trampoline, one in sailing, two in shooting, five in swimming, one in taekwondo, four in table tennis and five in weight lifting. The country was strongly backed by a state-run sports system at the event that kept cranking out the world’s best players and also set the best example to any rising regime in the region of the effect of a government’s transparency and responsibility to elevate the glory of the nation in the international arena.

The role played by Chinese media at the London Olympics 2012 was distinctive.  As Chinese athletes competed in the London Olympic Games, China’s media were also attracting a lot of attention. Since the beginning of the Games, a huge influx of Chinese media was busy inside and outside the Olympic stadiums with their duty to bring the first hand experience of the true spirit of the international event to the rest of the world. Nearly 300 accredited journalists and photographers, while over 800 non-accredited, journalists from china were present at the location.

China Central Television (CCTV) had also sent more than 500 people to London as one of the Olympic Games broadcasters and China’s leading online media companies, such as Tencent, Sina and Sohu had also sent staff to London and prepared platforms providing a variety of Games-related information and interactive content that supported massive audience interactions during the games.

Countering several inquiries made online  to the point if it was necessary to send so many journalists to London, China’s positive reactions over the media participation at the London Olympics embodied China’s development and people’s needs. Before the London Olympics, 130 members of the press from China arrived in Romford, a large suburban town in northeast London, and were accommodated at the Harefield Manor Hotel on Main Road until the end of the Games on 12 August.

Past Olympic highlights of China

Chinese competitors took part at the Los Angeles 1932 and Berlin 1936 Games and a swimmer took part in Helsinki in 1952.

Swimmer WU Chuanyu was the first Olympian from the Peoples Republic of China to compete at an Olympic Games. He took part in the men’s 100m backstroke at the Helsinki 1952 Olympic Games.

China won its first ever medal at an Olympic Game in 1968 at the Summer Olympics held in Mexico. The medal was a silver that ranked the country at 42 at the festival. Thereafter, in 1984 at the Olympics held in the USA, China won 15 Gold medals and became fourth in the entire medal list. China’s total medal count in 1984 was 32. Although China competed at the Winter Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, it was the appearance of their team of 216 members competing in 19 sports at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games that made a lasting impact. In the first event at these Games, shooter XU Haifing won the men’s free pistol to become the first Chinese to win gold. Gymnast LI Ning collected three gold medals, two silver and a bronze, making him the outstanding individual performer of the Games. There, China’s women won the volleyball tournament. ZHOU Jihong’s success in the women’s platform diving in 1984 started a trend of success in the sport.

 At the 1988 Summer Olympics held in South Korea, China won only five Gold medals and became the 11th. That year China’s total medal count came to 28 with 11 Silver and 28 Bronze. In 1992, with 16 Gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona in Spain, China became the fourth. With 22 Silver and 16 Bronze, China’s total medal count was 54. That year a total of 9356 athletes from 169 countries participated in these games, competing in 257 events in 28 sports. Retaining its position successfully and competitively, China again became fourth at the 1996 Summer Olympics held in the USA, with 16 Gold medals. That year China also won a total of 50 medals with 22 Silver and 12 Bronze. Apparently, the socio-economic boom started to prevail sustainably during the 1990s had also brought the country forward in many spheres including international sports. The continued efforts taken by the country to develop socio-spiritual aspects of the nation through sports simultaneously with an ongoing socio-economic development during the decade, also set examples even to the other nations in the region, of the right way to rise.

China’s successive efforts to retain in the forefront at international sports during the decades made the country sustainable at the top of the Olympics medal table since the year 2000. With 28 Gold, 16 Silver and 14 Bronze medals China became the 03rd at the 2000 summer Olympics held in Sydney in Australia.  At the Summer Olympics held in Athens in Greece in 2004, China was elevated to the position of 2 at the medal table with 32 Gold, 17 Silver and 14 Bronze medals. Hurdler LIU Xiang became the first Chinese male track gold medallist with his victory in the 110m hurdles at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. In Beijing, he aggravated an injury while warming up for his heat and was unable to compete. Amongst many other glorious victories at the Olympic games, in 2000 and 2004, China also excelled in badminton. They achieved a clean sweep of gold medals at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. GAO Ling has won four Olympic medals, more than any other player. Her gold medals came in the women’s doubles in 2000 and 2004.

With the advancement of competitive encroachment through fruitful efforts of dedication through the years of the history of Olympics, China became the first amongst 204 countries at the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008, winning 51 Gold medals. With 21 Silver and 28 Bronze, the total medal count of China at the Beijing Olympics was 100. The year 2008 brought 11028 athletes to Beijing to compete at 302 events in 28 sports. Altogether China also took the maximum of the unsurpassed advantage of the host country at its 2008 victory. The host nation of the 2008 Olympic Games, the Chinese have had this success after 19 years since returning to the Olympic fold after an agreement brokered by the IOC in 1979.

Chinese diver FU Mingxia Minxia has won four gold medals from three Olympic competitions. She first took gold in the 1992 women’s 10m platform in Barcelona, won the springboard and platform competitions in 1996 and won the 3m springboard again in 2000. Her record was emulated by GUO Jingjing, who won gold in the women’s 3m springboard and in the synchronised springboard in 2004 and 2008.

 China’s dedicated efforts through the years and especially since 1990s, to work ahead with an active plan towards the growing achievements at Olympics have set evidence to the success story of a nation’s contribution to elevate its position to the apex of the international arena not only in financial development but also in socio-spiritual and socio-cultural aspects that include sports.

A note of conclusion – a nation with a course towards a timely target

A deep look at the 2012 Olympic medal table expresses evidence to forecast that China ranked two with a score of 38 Gold, 27 Silver and 23 Bronze medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in UK is confident of being the world’s leading sports star in the near future. Whilst securing its position well ahead since the past two decades, China is now confident of positioning itself at the highest rank even at the international sports arena. A closer look at the latest Olympics medal table reveals that the USA who was ranked first with 46 Gold medals has conquered the sphere only within an area where future defeats are unavoidable. Out of the 46 Gold medals the USA achieved, 17 medals were won by the collaboration of eight swimmers. Meanwhile, 23 Gold medals which is 50% of the total gold count for the USA were won by 11 individuals in swimming, athletics as well as Gymnastic-artistic events. Although the USA has won 46 Gold medals in 15 sports, 25 gold medals out of the total have been won by 09 individuals in athletics and 16 gold medals were from the swimming events. Therefore, 55% of the USA’s total victory is only from two events. In comparison, China has won 38 gold medals in 13 sports with the highest number of 11 gold medals in water related sports events – five in swimming and 6 in diving that makes only 28% in total. When a greater portion of Gold is won by few individuals for the USA in few events, China has expressed its well prepared victory and eligibility in many spheres of sports to disperse the number of Gold medals among many Chinese sporting personalities.  The track and field events predominated by the USA at earlier Olympics have now been conquered by Jamaica and other rising athletes of different nations around the world. Likewise, if the swimming events led by the USA  were to be conquered  in the future Olympics, there exists no force that would divert the glory of the games transferring to another nation who foresees the advantage of the timely concern into the victory at future Olympics. Therefore, a  comprehensive look into the course of Olympics during the past reveals that  it is none other than China who is rapidly reaching this glorious victory to remain sustainable not only as the financial giant in the globe but equally as the leading sports star in the entire world. With its aim to emerge as the leading global financial hub  by 2020, China’s prospects to rise as the world’s best sports  nation by the time has been rightly foreseen by the entire world.