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Lifestyle
Print Edition> Lifestyle
UPDATED: August 13, 2012 NO. 33 AUGUST 16, 2012
Rising Stars
Chinese swimmers take center stage in London
By Tang Yuankai
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TALENT POOL: Children receive swimming instruction at Chen Jinglun Sport School in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province (CFP)

Ever since Sun and Ye dazzled the world audience at the London Olympic Games, the popularity of their alma mater, Chen Jinglun Sport School in Hangzhou of Zhejiang Province, has soared.

Parents in Hangzhou are now eager to send their children to the school, reputedly a cradle of world champion swimmers.

"The success of Sun inspired more parents to send their children to pursue swimming. Now that we have a larger pool of children to choose from, and are more likely to find even more gifted swimmers," said coach Chen Yunpeng.

Only a chosen few can enter the school. Every year, coaches in the school tour nearly 200 kindergartens in the city in search of promising swimmers. First, 800 children are picked to receive concentrated training. After the training, the school keeps about 150 of these children.

Currently, about 350 children aged 6-13 receive training in the school every day. The school is geared to developing sports programs, allowing children to train in their spare time, in the evenings when school is in session and during the daytime over holidays.

In the school, a 6-year-old typically swims 5,000 to 6,000 meters per day. "Heavy aerobic exercises are pivotal to improving swimmers' ability," said Bai Ziyue, the school's Vice President.

In addition to large amount of aerobic exercises, the school also emphasizes technique. Sun is known for his exceptional breathing technique. While most swimmers inhale when stroking water with their arms, Sun inhales when his hands are out of water," said coach Chen. Chen believed this advanced technique made Sun stand out above the crowd.

The school, founded in 1956, is designated by the GAS as a training base for prospective high-caliber athletes. So far, it has produced many national and world champions in multiple sports.

The school is at the grassroots level of China's Nationwide Sport System (NSS) of competitive sports.

"Specifically, the NSS requires the government to be responsible for the athletes' training. In the system, amateur sports schools, provincial teams, and national teams form a complete training chain, which ensures an abundant supply of back-up sports talents," said Wei Jizhong, President of the International Volleyball Federation. Wei once served as secretary general of the Chinese Olympic Committee for 12 years.

Talented students trained at Chen Jinglun Sport School will be selected into provincial sports teams to compete in national sporting games. Outstanding athletes will be selected into the national sports team.

The rise of the Chinese swimming team should also be credited to a project codenamed 119.

Of the Olympic Games, the three big sports—swimming, track and field, aquatics—altogether produce 119 gold medals. However, these three are the short board of China. Thus came the need for the 119 Project, which aims to enhance the Chinese athletes' performance in these fields.

In the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the Chinese swimming team went home with no gold medals at all. Following this disappointment, the project was silently launched.

An interesting coincidence is that "119" happens to be the fire emergency phone number in China. About this, Wei Di, then Director of the Administration Center of Aquatic Sports under GAS, pointed out the code 119 refers to a "warning."

However, GAS never disclosed the 119 Project to the public until breakthroughs were made at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

In Athens, China got the first gold medal in aquatics; Liu Xiang became the first Chinese to win the title of men's 110-meter hurdles; China jumped to the second place in the gold medal standings for the first time; and China won gold medals in an all-time high of 13 sports.

Wei said that under the 119 Project, since 2001, China's investment in aquatic sports has greatly increased. The investment hit 20 million yuan ($3.14 million), nearly doubling the previous level.

The government spent 3 million yuan ($470,000) on equipment purchases and 1 million yuan ($157,000) on overseas visits and competitions.

"These big investments were unprecedented," said Wei.

The project also attached great importance to intensive training. In 2001, China's Swimming Administration Center re-established a permanent national team. "Only in this way can the country's investment in swimming be specifically concentrated on the swimming team, and can the advantage of China's nationwide sport system be given a full play," said Li Hua, Director of the center.

Under the NSS, the government also focuses its investment on new sports and sports without mass participation. The success of this strategy is reflected in China's gold medal counting in trampoline during the Beijing and London Olympic Games. Trampoline became an Olympic event in 2000, before which the sport had not been introduced in China. GAS selected athletes from similar sports and trained them in trampoline. Later, trampoline training centers were established. Within a decade, Olympic champions in trampoline such as He Wenna were crowned.

The NSS has proven successful in building a strong force in competitive sports, as shown by the Beijing Olympic Games, said Huang Yaling, a professor at Beijing Sport University.

While the NSS has effectively helped produce great athletes, Olympic gold medals and a sense of pride for the Chinese people, the public also begins to question whether a nation's success in sports should be measured solely by the achievement of a small number of sports elites, while leaving out the participation of the general public.

Huang said that to develop people-oriented mass sports, the current system must be reformed.

Email us at: tangyuankai@bjreview.com

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