BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
Recruiting athletes from other disciplines into Olympic sports should help enhance China’s chances
With the goal of expanding its profile on the global sports stage, China is rolling out a cross-sport talent selection program to identify and develop future Olympians.
From skating rinks to ski jumps, and from running tracks to skeleton courses, some of China’s first-time Winter Olympic breakthroughs in Pyeongchang have been achieved by talent drafted from other sports as part of an innovative plan to turn total neophytes into future medal contenders.
Taking a deep breath on top of the hill last week, ski jumper Chang Xinyue launched herself onto the ramp, crouching low for maximum acceleration.
After soaring over 80 meters with her ski tips spread in an aerodynamic ‘V’, Chang hit the landing area with one foot ahead of the other to finish her final run in the ladies’ normal hill competition.
Chang’s smooth technique belied her challenging road to join the global elite.
A rising short-track speed skater on the Jilin provincial team, Chang decided to move from ice to snow in 2010, when the national ski jumping team was assembled for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
After seven years of hard work on dry land at home and training on overseas hills, she made history by becoming the first Chinese to qualify for Olympic ski jumping after impressive showings on the 2017-18 World Cup circuit.
“I think I just enjoy the speed flying in the air more than sliding on the ice. I am the first one from China to make it to the Olympics, but I definitely won’t be the only one in Beijing in 2022,” Chang said after finishing 20th among 35 competitors in Pyeongchang.
Inspired by Chang and other examples, the country’s top sports governing body launched a major cross-sport talent development program, tasked with nurturing potential Olympians in events the nation had never contested for the 2020 Tokyo Summer and 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
Athletes from the worlds of track and field, gymnastics, weightlifting and even acrobatics were evaluated.
The 2022 preparations have also been boosted by China’s bobsled and skeleton teams qualifying for the Olympics for the first time in Pyeongchang.
Although failing to advance to the final run, the country’s two-man bobsled team of Li Chunjian and Wang Sidong, both former track and field athletes, are confident their training as sprinters will give them an edge on the ice.
“The first time was only about learning,” Li said after their third run at Alpensia Sliding Center in Pyeongchang on Feb 19. “We’ve learned that a lot of the leading racers in this event came from other sporting backgrounds, which makes us believe in our strength and potential.”
The victory of South Korean pilot Yun Sung-bin in skeleton, the first Olympic gold medal in sliding sports won by Asia, has likewise boosted the confidence of Chinese racers.
China’s national skeleton team coach Jeff Pain, who won a silver medal for Canada at the 2006 Turin Games, said recruiting competitors with an athletics background is both smart and practical.
“It’s essentially about body shape and the ability to run fast ,” said Pain, a former varsity track and field athlete at the University of British Columbia.
Without enough talent in surfing, climbing, skateboarding and BMX freestyle riding, four sports that will debut at the 2020 Tokyo Games, the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC) last year launched a progressive talent selection program to identify and develop athletes across events from home and abroad.
The exceptional core strength, balance and body coordination of some professional athletes in gymnastics, long jump, martial arts and acrobatics make it easier for them to shift to new events compared to amateurs.
“The level of amateur participation now is far behind the Olympic qualification standard given the short time we have before Tokyo 2020,” said Huang Qiang, secretarygeneral of China Roller Sports Association.
“To prepare for the skateboarding competition in Tokyo, transforming established athletes in other events into professional skateboarders seems the only solution,” he added.
Since the GASC officially launched a global audition for the four new summer events in 2016, about 20 athletes in each discipline have been targeted from around 1,200 registrants in the mass selection phase.
An international experts group consisting of coaches, physical trainers, nutritionists and psychologists with expertise in the four sports has also been assembled to further assess and guide them.
Having raised questions over the viability of such a bold move, Xu Gang, an athletic training professor at Beijing Sport University and a panel member of the program, said it’s “a rational choice with scientific basis”.
“The selection will only reach out to those talents with basic physical conditions and transferable athletic backgrounds with the target events,” he said.
“With intense and professional training, their potential in the new events will be unleashed.”
We’ve learned that a lot of the leading racers in this event came from other sporting backgrounds, which makes us believe in our strength and potential.” Li Chunjian, who now teams with Wang Sidong on China’s two-man bobsled team. Both are former track and field athletes.