China' participation in the 10th Olympic Games in 1932, though
by only one athlete, aroused worldwide attention as had not been
expected by the Chinese government. At the same time, it felt quite
uneasy about the public opinion that the largest country should be
represented by such a tiny number of participants. In 1935, or one
year before the 11th Olympics, it appropriated nearly 200,000 yuan
for preparations, choosing the best athletes and opening up a
number of training classes. A delegation was organized, consisting
of 69 competitors for athletics, swimming, basketball, football,
weightlifting, boxing and cycling; 39 observers and nine
demonstrators of the traditional Chinese martial art of wushu. In
addition, it was accompanied by 150 journalists and visitors to
Berlin at their own expenses.?
After the Olympics, the wushu demonstrators went to Denmark,
Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria and Italy, where they were
warmly received as envoys of the Chinese people and highly
acclaimed for their performances with bare hands or such ancient
weapons as swords, cudgels and spears. Some of the performers later
became well-known wushu masters, professors or leaders of national
organizations, including Zheng Huaixian, the late president of the
Chinese Wushu Association, and 89-year-old Prof. Zhang Wenguang at
Beijing Physical Education University.
The observers, who were phys.ed. teachers and scholars, spent
six weeks or so in Europe visiting sports facilities, studying
sports management and physical training in schools and colleges — a
study tour that proved very useful for their work after their
return home.
?
As far as the Olympic competition was concerned, Chinese athletes
failed to collect a single medal. All were eliminated in the
preliminaries except Fu Baolu in the pole vault, holder of the then
national record of 4.015m, whose best performance fell below 4m at
the Berlin Olympics, and who joined the air force soon after his
return home and was killed during the War of Resistance Against
Japan. The Chinese made an even poorer showing in other events,
finishing the marathon race, for instance, one hour behind the
winner. "We were a far cry from many countries in the results and
athletic abilities," wrote the Chinese Delegation in its report.
"We were ridiculed as having brought back nothing but a 'duck's
egg'."
No Olympic Games were held for the 12th and 13th Olympiads
because of the Second World War. In 1947, China started
preparations for the 14th Olympic Games slated for the next year.
Selective trials and intensive training were held for 10000m, 400m
and marathon races, 400m hurdles, 100m freestyle swimming, 1000m
cycling, basketball and football, in the hope of tallying some
points.
Nevertheless, the Kuomintang government was only lukewarm about
participation in the Olympics, allotting no more than US$25,000 for
it, with a deficit of US$70,000-80,000 to be collected by the
delegation itself, which was thus placed in an awkward
position.
On the other hand, the Chinese people and athletes in particular
displayed much enthusiasm for the Olympics. Part of the needed
funds were raised at home. To make up the balance, the basketball
and football teams played 15 and 32 matches respectively to collect
money from the gate during a four-month tour to Hong Kong, Saigon,
Manila, Bangkok, Singapore, Rangoon and Calcutta, before they
arrived in London in late July - just in time for the Olympic
Games. To cut down expenses, the delegation brought the needed food
with it, amounting to four tons for 48 persons.
The results in competitions were quite disappointing - without a
single point to the delegation's credit. To do justice to the
athletes, they had done their utmost. Take Lou Wen'ao for instance.
He was a deaf-mute and took part in the 10000m and marathon races,
during which he developed blisters all over his feet wearing a pair
of ordinary shoes made of rubber soles and cloth uppers. The
Chinese basketball team placed 18th among the 23 participating
squads. The Chinese cyclist, He Haohua, was second in the race but
fell from his bike near the finish to dash his hopes for a
silver.
What was most embarrassing for the Chinese delegation was that
it had to borrow money all the way back home.
For all their poor athletic performances and hardships they met
with, the Chinese Olympians would never forget the British people's
goodwill and friendship towards them - as expressed in the
children's hunt for their autographs, the Londoners' invitations to
their homes, and the royal reception at Buckingham Palace - all
betokening an international understanding so important for the
establishment of a peaceful society after the Second World War,
after the Olympics had stopped for 12 years.
A tremendous change took place in China after the 1948 Olympics.
With the overthrow of the Kuomintang government, which was rotten
to the core, the People's Republic of China was established in the
next year. Paying great attention to the people's health and the
cause of sport, the new regime adopted a positive attitude toward
the global Olympic Movement. The Chinese Olympic Committee decided
to take part in the 15th Olympic Games to be held in Helsinki in
1952. A problem arose when some of the COC members who had fled to
Taiwan with the Kuomintang authorities claimed to the International
Olympic Committee that they, rather than the COC, should represent
China at the Olympic Games. The IOC decided not to invite either
side of the Taiwan Strait, to the disapproval of both.
On July 17, just two days before the opening of the Games, the
IOC passed by vote a resolution to invite the COC to the Olympics
as China's sole representative. The COC received the resolution and
a cable of invitation from the Organizing Committee on July 18.
There being no jet air transportation, it was impossible to fly the
Chinese delegation from Beijing to Helsinki for the opening
ceremony. To go or not to go? That was the question.The COC decided
to go. Although delayed for formal competitions, the Chinese
athletes arrived at the Olympic Village and hoisted their red
five-starred national flag for the first time in the Olympic
history, which, as pointed out by Premier Zhou Enlai, was a great
victory in itself.
In 1954, at its 49th session in Athens, the IOC adopted a
resolution on the official recognition of the COC and decided to
invite China to take part in the 16th Olympic Games to be held in
Melbourne in 1956. The COC made preparations and organized a
delegation for the occasion.
It follows from this that the problem of China's representation
had been solved. But something quite out of expectation happened.
In the list of IOC members there appeared two Chinese NOCs. Some
people in the IOC had, regardless of the resolution passed at the
49th session, had placed Taiwan in the list in violation of the
Olympic Charter, an action that could not be tolerated by the
Chinese athletes and people in general. This was a question of
principle. The Chinese delegation, which was concentrated in
Guangzhou and ready to depart for Melbourne, could not but lodge a
protest and withdraw from the Olympics. There should not appear two
Chinas in the world, and consequently, nor should there appear two
Chinese NOCs, nor two Chinese delegations at the Olympic Games.
Thus China was barred from the 16th Olympics and also from the
following five editions. This aroused universal dissatisfaction,
for it is known to all that there is only one China in the world,
and that is the People's Republic of China, while Taiwan is part of
its territory. This is a fact accepted by the then 119 members of
the United Nations. Why should China be excluded from the IOC in
violation of the Olympic Charter? How could the Olympics be called
a real global sports meet at a real world level without the
participation of such a large country as China - a country that has
made steady progress in sports, breaking world records on more than
200 occasions by the end of 1979? As a matter of course, this
problem had set many personages in the IOC thinking seriously.
As a result, at a meeting held in Nagoya in 1979, the IOC
Executive Board passed a resolution on the reinstatement of China
in the IOC, while the Olympic committee in Taiwan can only use the
name of "Chinese Taipei Olympic committee" with its flag, anthem
and emblem different from the original ones. Thus, the COC was
enabled to take part in the Olympics as China's representative. It
immediately decided to participate in the 13th Winter Olympic Games
to be held in Lake Placid, USA in February 1980 and the 22nd
Olympic Games to be held in Moscow in August of the same year.
China sent 28 athletes to the United States - for the first time
to any Winter Olympics - to compete in speed skating, figure
skating, biathlon, and cross-country and alpine skiing. It was also
represented at the following three Winter Olympics. At the 15th,
the Chinese woman skater Li Yan set a new world record in both the
1000m and 1500m short-track demonstration races and earned a gold
medal for the 1000m and a bronze medal for both the 500m and 1500m
events. At the 16th Winter Olympics, Ye Qiaobo placed second in
both the women's 500m and 1000m events, while Li Yan did the same
in the 500m short-track race.
As for the 22nd Olympic Games, China made full preparations for
competition in 19 of the 21 sports, indicating the great importance
it attached to the occasion after an absence of 28 years from the
Olympic Games since Helsinki. Owing to the Soviet invasion in
Afghanistan, however, the COC and Chinese athletes, together with
their counterparts in many other countries, boycotted the Moscow
Olympics in their struggle against hegemony and in defence of the
Olympic principles.
(COC Website?? July 8, 2004)