OPINION> Commentary
Shift focus to mass sports
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-28 07:32

Competitive sports cannot live without the support of mass sports and the two should go hand in hand, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

At the Olympics, Chinese athletes have presented outstanding performance, which brought a sea of joy to the whole nation. But while being happy with China's competitive sports, we may ponder over another question: how to turn the accomplishment of China's competitive sports into a strong driving force for the growth of China's mass sports.

The development of mass sports requires talents, expenses and venues. With the large increase of the financial revenues, governments at different levels are able to allocate part of the capital into the construction of sports facilities, which is an important part of addressing and improving people's lives.

In addition, large numbers of retired professional athletes may become leaders in mass sports. We have the policy to attract college graduates to serve as cadres in villages; now we can also adopt some preferential policies to attract retired professionals to work in communities for mass sports.

Mass sports of course are not as entertaining and high-level as competitive sports and also lacks business values.

However, if we take a long-term view, we would find that the sound development of mass sports not only contributes to the improvement of people's physique and enrichment of people's lives, but also helps prepare talents for competitive sports. So, the growth of mass sports is of great significance.

Competitive sports should be developed on the basis of the wide spread of mass sports and the general betterment of people's health. It would be great if China's sports can improve the health of the people while winning medals in competitions.

We must correctly handle the relations between competitive sports and mass sports, or else China's sports cannot realize sustainable, harmonious and all-around development.

(China Daily 08/28/2008 page8)