Word: sported
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...rebuttal to its history as the "sick man of Asia" exploited by colonialists during the waning days of the Qing dynasty. The average Chinese?for whom supporting the motherland in athletic competition is one of the few instances in which mass, spontaneous celebration is allowed?is conditioned to see sporting victories as a metaphor for China's ascendance. "Our current national sports policy is called 'Winning Pride at the Olympics,'" says Hao Qiang, head of the State General Administration of Sport's Competition and Training Department. "By being successful at the Olympics, China will erase our shameful past of being...
...with Beijing set to host the 2008 Games, China wants not only to bury the past but to set the tone for the future. The Beijing Olympics "is about more than just sports," says Ren Hai, a professor at the Beijing Sport University. "In 2008, China's development will be acknowledged and accepted by the world." Chinese sports czars have announced that 2008 will bring the nation an unprecedented number of Olympic laurels, based upon a "gold-medal strategy" approved by no less an authority than China's Cabinet...
...reflexes are destined for table tennis or badminton, while beefier types are tagged as weight lifters. At nearly every elementary school around the nation, amateur anatomists measure youths' bones to predict their future heights, and the tallest are reserved for provincial volleyball, basketball or handball squads. "Just name the sport," says Xu Guangshu, former principal of the Shichahai Sports School in Beijing, another Olympic cradle. "If you give us enough money for proper training, we can create Olympic stars. We have so many children to choose from...
...relentless professionalization of sport is, of course, not just a Chinese phenomenon. Aided by exhausting, full-time training programs, the latest in technology and, on occasion, banned substances, performances in virtually every sport have improved by literal leaps and bounds over the past quarter-century. Hallowed records such as Bob Beamon's long jump have fallen as top-level athletes train so single-mindedly that the idea of Roger Bannister's breaking the four-minute mile in 1954 as a diversion from his medical studies seems almost absurdly quaint...
...even in this brave new world of hyper-athleticism, no country systematically trains its kids as young and as hard as China does. Wu He, vice director of Guangdong's table-tennis association, has been involved in the sport for 46 years, first as southern China's champion and then as a coach. When he started out, most kids were 12 when they were picked by talent scouts for municipal-level sports academies. "Today, children must start, at the very latest, at six years old," he says. "Otherwise it's too late." To increase the level of play, China lowered...