From achievements to growth, from a "small Olympics" to a "big gathering" delegation | college students | Olympics

On July 12th, athlete representative Cao Maoyuan took the oath at the founding ceremony of the Chinese University Sports Delegation at the Chengdu Universiade. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yan Linyun

The Chengdu Universiade is here

On July 12th, the Chinese university sports delegation participating in the 31st Chengdu Summer Universiade was officially established.

411 athletes from 25 provinces, cities, and more than 100 universities across the country appeared on this list, the vast majority of whom participated in the World University Games for the first time. There are more than 30 athletes who have participated in the Olympics, among whom the more familiar ones are only Zhang Yufei, Li Bingjie, Zhang Jiaqi, Zou Jingyuan, etc.

"International competitions such as the Olympics and Asian Games place more emphasis on competition. The Universiade is different, and although we also hope to achieve good results, here, the arena is just a platform for world university students to showcase themselves and communicate with each other. Therefore, the Universiade embodies more of the spirit of 'participation'. Even if we don't engage in sports in the future, participating in the Universiade is a precious wealth and experience in life." Yuan Wei, who has participated in two Universiades and is now engaged in sports teaching in universities, believes so.

In Yuan Wei's view, in the past decade, besides the changes in participants, the changes in Chinese people's understanding of the Universiade are also gratifying. After nearly half a century of development, the concept of "Little Olympics" has gradually faded away, and the pursuit of competitive performance is no longer seen as all about participating in the Universiade. The significance of cultural integration, emotional exchange, and other aspects created for college students is more valued by society.

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On August 28, 2001, at the Beijing Workers Stadium, Liu Xiang, who was only 18 years old, won the men's 110 meter hurdles at the World University Games with a time of 13.33 seconds, marking his first international championship.

"Before participating in the Beijing Universiade, I only participated in two global competitions the previous year, one was the Chilean Youth World Championships and the other was the Lyon Indoor Tournament in France, ranking fourth and third. Many years later, Liu Xiang still vividly remembers his participation experience in the summer of 2001." It can be said that the Beijing Universiade was the beginning of my journey towards the world and the highest podium of the Olympics. "

Like Liu Xiang, basketball player Wang Zhizhi and the Chinese college basketball team centered around him, Yao Ming, and Bartel also have a deep memory of that summer 22 years ago. They narrowly defeated the US team by one point at the Tsinghua University Gymnasium on the evening of August 30, 2001, and entered the men's basketball final of the Beijing University Games. That was the only time that the Chinese men's basketball team had ever defeated the US team. The patriotic fervor sparked by this competition is no less than the sensation caused by the Chinese women's volleyball team's victory in the 2019 World Cup in Japan and their gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Looking back on that summer 22 years ago, it did bring too many surprises to the Chinese people: on July 14th, Beijing successfully won the hosting rights of the 29th Summer Olympics in 2008, and a month later, the 21st World University Summer Games, known as the "Little Olympics," were held in Beijing.

Opening the list of Chinese delegations for the 2001 Beijing Universiade, a series of names from Chinese sports giants came into view - in addition to the aforementioned ones, there were also Li Na, Wang Liqin, Zhang Yining, Tian Liang, Guo Jingjing, Xian Dongmei

"At that time, the concept of the 'Little Olympics' of the Universiade was particularly emphasized in China, and China attached great importance to athletic performance." Yang Liguo, former Secretary General of the China University Sports Association, once told reporters. In his view, no one saw the Universiade as a student competition at that time, especially in the context of Beijing's successful bid for the Olympics. Everyone saw this Universiade as a rehearsal for the Beijing Olympics, whether it was event organization or competition results.

In fact, the attention of the Chinese people to the Universiade did not start with Beijing in 2001. It was just that the Universiade first came to China that year, and it was held after we obtained the right to host the Olympics.

In 1975, the China University Sports Association was established. In the same year, the association joined the World University Sports Federation, and two years later, the China Association of Athletics and Sports participated in the World University Games as a team for the first time. Later, Sun Jinfang, who led the Chinese women's volleyball team to win the world championship for the first time, participated in the Universiade. She later recalled, "The Universiade was held in Sofia, Bulgaria. At that time, China had not yet undergone reform and opening up, and national teams like us had very few opportunities to participate in international competitions. The Universiade was our first time participating in a comprehensive world sports event."

For the first time participating in a world competition, the Chinese women's volleyball team won a silver medal at the Universiade; Two years later, at the Bucharest Universiade in Romania, the Chinese women's volleyball team, led by Lang Ping, won the championship in one go, achieving a breakthrough in China's "three major goals" in the world competition. Therefore, in Sun Jinfang's view, this is the starting point of China's "five consecutive championships" and even "ten championships".

Like the experience of the Chinese women's volleyball team, the Universiade provided many future Olympic and world champions with the opportunity to stand out and become famous in one go for a long time. It can be said that the Universiade records the rise of competitive sports in New China.

At the 2001 Beijing Universiade, the Chinese delegation ranked first on the gold medal table with 54 gold medals, creating the best result for participating in the World Universiade. However, the Beijing Universiade also marked the end of one era and the beginning of another.

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On April 19th this year, the countdown to the Chengdu Universiade was 100 days. At noon on the same day, Tsinghua University held a "Youth Promise Sings the Universiade" event on campus, where university students sang the Universiade songs together, cheering for the 100 day countdown to the Universiade and sending a youthful promise to young college students worldwide.

Hu Kai appeared in the crowd as the Deputy Director and Associate Professor of the Sports Department at Tsinghua University. However, his other identity was not known to most of the students present - the men's 100m champion at the 2005 Izmir World Games.

"After crossing the finish line, I was completely stunned because no one could have imagined that I would win a gold medal, including myself." Years later, Hu Kai recalled the scene of winning the championship with excitement.

Winning the Universiade made Hu Kai famous, and overnight everyone met this young athlete who created the history of Chinese athletics, calling him the "Glassman". After returning to China, he found that the popularity of "Glasses Man" had reached the level of Liu Xiang, who won the Athens Olympics a year ago.

Hu Kai's success undoubtedly paved a new path for the integration of sports and education in China, proving that it is entirely possible to cultivate high-level athletes on campus. At this year's Universiade, a delegation of Chinese university students, mainly composed of college athletes, was finally born, and Chinese school sports took a new step forward.

In fact, as early as the Daegu Universiade in South Korea, two years after the Beijing Universiade, the Chinese university sports delegation had basically achieved a focus on college students. In the men's football, women's volleyball, athletics, and swimming teams, non professional athletes accounted for a considerable proportion of college students. The Chinese university football team, composed of players from the Beijing Institute of Technology team, is also the first national representative team purely composed of student armies on university campuses. Although they only finished seventh in the end, they caused a sensation by defeating the Brazilian team in the final qualifying match.

Since then, the Chinese delegation participating in the Universiade has always been on a "dual track" system, with some athletes participating in the competition in the form of "co construction" between the national team and universities; The other part is ordinary college student athletes. However, the concept of "returning college students to the Universiade" is becoming increasingly ingrained in people's hearts, and Chinese college athletes are undergoing profound changes.

This change was particularly prominent at the 2011 Shenzhen Universiade. Chinese college athletes who appear in Shenzhen are becoming more and more comfortable in this world family of young people.

In Shenzhen, all three major players of the Chinese legion have changed their faces. Football professor Jin Zhiyang led a group of highly educated athletes with a bachelor's degree or above, as well as master's and doctoral degrees, to achieve the goal of becoming a "pure student army". Basketball has benefited from years of experience in the Premier League and CUBA, giving birth to a comprehensive team. Volleyball, on the other hand, is even more straightforward. Both the men's and women's teams are from Fudan University. Although they are specially recruited to enter the campus, their classes are no different from those of undergraduate students, and they are completely "in school", "registered", "studying", and "training" college students.

Making real college students the protagonists of the Universiade has also changed the temperament of the Chinese Universiade delegation. At the same time, not only is temperament changing, but also in terms of sports performance, the Chinese sports delegation's performance at the Shenzhen Universiade has reached a new height: 75 gold medals and 145 medals!

Afterwards, from Kazan, Russia, to Gwangju, South Korea, and then to Naples, Italy, the Chinese delegation, mainly composed of college students, maintained a stable position in the top three despite fluctuations in gold and medal numbers.

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On June 20th this year, the torch relay event of the Chengdu University Games arrived at the third stop - Shenzhen University.

In the morning, when the spark pot and torch "Rong Huo" of the Chengdu Universiade were lit one after another, Su Bingtian, the first torchbearer of the Shenzhen Station torch relay, the bronze medalist of the men's 4x100m relay at the Tokyo Olympics, and the holder of the men's 100m Asian record, held the torch high and set off from Time Square to officially start the Shenzhen Station torch relay.

The fate between Su Bingtian and the Universiade began 12 years ago. In 2011, Su Bingtian, who was still a student majoring in International Economics at Jinan University, participated in the Shenzhen Universiade and won the bronze medal in the men's 100m final with a time of 10.27 seconds. I am already an associate professor at a university when I come to Shenzhen again to participate in the torch relay of the Chengdu Universiade. The great success of the Tokyo Olympics has made him known to more Chinese people.

Similarly to Professor Su, there is also a student from Tsinghua University named Yang Qian who has achieved great success.

Yang Qian's first gold medal and double gold medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics were highly praised, and everyone envied her status as a Tsinghua University student. Yang Qian believes that her achievements cannot be separated from the model of integrating sports and education to cultivate talents, as she is a beneficiary of the integration of sports and education, as she is able to maintain a world-class level of sports while also being able to attend the most well-known universities in China.

Indeed, Yang Qian's growth experience and the success of establishing a high-level sports team at Tsinghua University reflect the development and achievements of Chinese university sports in recent years.

In July 2019, at the 30th Universiade in Naples, Italy, the Chinese team consisting of Tsinghua University students Jiang Jiehua, Jiang Hengnan, Wang Yu, and Sun Yat sen University student Xia Dajun won the silver medal in the men's 4x100m relay with a time of 39.01 seconds. 14 years ago, their senior Hu Kai won the men's 100m championship at the Universiade. "Hu Kai was an outstanding figure back then, while the relay was a collective event and the result of more people's efforts. This indicates that China's university sports have made great progress after years of development, but there is still a lot of room for development," said Li Qing, a professor at Tsinghua University and coach of the Chinese athletics team, to reporters. In Naples, 28 students from Tsinghua University appeared on the list of Chinese delegations.

In addition, another top university in China, Peking University, has also sent nearly 20 athletes to participate in the men's and women's basketball and athletics events of the Naples World University Games.

It is particularly gratifying that in Naples, the proportion of college students in the Chinese delegation once again reached a new high, reaching 84%; In sharp contrast, at the Tokyo Olympics two years later, athletes from university campuses in the Chinese delegation have become a group, with a large number of students shining on the field, including not only undergraduate students, but also many master's and doctoral students. In addition to Yang Qian and Su Bingtian, there are also diving champions Shi Tingmao and weightlifting champions Shen Lijun from Southwest University, weightlifting champions Shi Zhiyong from Ningbo University, sprinter Xie Zhenye from Zhejiang University, badminton player He Bingjiao from Suzhou University, badminton player Jia Yifan from Xiangtan University, women's basketball player Shao Ting from Beijing Normal University, and rowing players Chen Yunxia and Zhang Ling from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, among others.

Unlike previous provincial and municipal sports teams and university joint sports teams, these university world champions are mostly discovered by universities in their middle school years before achieving results. They then go through steps such as regular college entrance exams, reduced admission scores, and pre college studies after enrollment. With the improvement of their specialized technical skills and cultural cultivation, they gradually demonstrate excellent competitive skills in competitions until they are selected for the national team and participate in the Olympics.

Correspondingly, China now has over 300 student competition projects every year, covering primary, secondary, and tertiary schools across the country. This "one-stop" competition system ensures the formation of a talent pool, such as the Chinese University Basketball League and the National Youth Campus Football League, which are very exciting and attract the attention and participation of large, primary, and secondary schools.