On the evening of October 23, the curtains came down on the 10th National Games (October 12-23) in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province. But rumblings from the shenanigans associated with the Games continue to reverberate. On October 27, Nanfang Weekend published a report that discussed the hits and misses of the quadrennial event. These are some of the main points of that report.

 

Unlike the spirit of sportsmanship the Games presumably wanted to promote, the behavior of several athletes left much to be desired.

 

Of the eight taekwondo matches held on October 15, six athletes unexpectedly decided not to participate. The next day, that number rose to eight.

 

Player drop-outs made their way into the boxing ring as well. The boxing competition that was held before the opening of the Games on October 12 was troubled by successive boxer walkouts. One Zhejiang boxer, a powerful contender for the gold medal in his category, disappeared mysteriously even before the competition started.

 

Sports fans also witnessed a striking scene in the judo ring on October 13 when Olympic champion Sun Fuming of Liaoning Province "lost" to army player Yan Sirui, also from Liaoning, less than 30 seconds in the women's judo +78 kg class gold medal contest. In an unprecedented move, the organizing committee ordered a rematch two days later. Sun lost the rematch, but more honestly and convincingly.

 

According to a special policy adopted for the Games, athletes from the army were not allowed to compete for their provincial teams in events like boxing, fencing, taekwondo and judo; but if they won medals, points would be added to both provincial and army teams' scores.

 

Many players exploited this loophole. To achieve a so-called "win-win" situation, some competition results were rigged, according to the report.

 

Army athletes weren't the only focus during the Games.

 

In the rhythmic gymnastics competition, Zhu Xudong, a Xinhua News Agency reporter, "overheard" a conversation between two team doctors, the gist of which was that the champion had already been decided. The final results confirmed what they talked about. No sooner had the contest ended than Zhong Ling, China's No.1 rhythmic gymnast who only managed third place, criticized the competition and announced her withdrawal from the national team. Although Zhong was persuaded to stay in the team that then went to Baku, Azerbaijan, for the world championships, she did not compete.

 

Two days before closing, an even bigger scandal rocked the serenity of the Games. Long-distance running star Sun Yingjie failed a dope test after the women's 10,000 meters race and was stripped of her silver medal.

 

The report highlights that the National Games have been experiencing an escalating faith crisis. An online survey conducted by Sina.com showed that 38 percent of the respondents expressed dissatisfaction over "unfair plays" and indifference to "boring contests" from the opening day. By October 18, that figure had risen to 43 percent.

 

It is interesting to note that during the 1998 National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sessions, senior sportsmen and CPPCC members Zhu Jiaming, Lou Dapeng and Zhang Xielin jointly proposed the cancellation of the Games.

 

"The Games are a peculiar product born of the country's planned economy and the former Soviet Union's sports system," they said. "Relying on heaps of allocated funds, they have given rise to a tremendous waste of human, financial and material resources."

 

Zhang Faqiang, vice director of the General Administration of Sports (GAS), indicated this July that abandoning the Games was not a prudent measure. "What is more important is how to reform the Games rather than give them up," he said.

 

Two months later, the administration's new head, Liu Peng, linked the nation's Olympic achievements with the National Games, and denied that the latter was a result of the planned economy. "Personally, I can still see an argument for running the Games in future," he said.

 

During the 2001 National Games, Chen Peide, then head of Zhejiang's sports bureau, disclosed that if the Games were canceled, all provincial sports bureaus would find themselves in a difficult position with regard to budget allocations.

 

Reports of Games-related corruption are equally worrying. Proposals have been made to audit and supervise the huge investment, which can run into billions of yuan, in the Games.

 

Administration is another issue. All provincial sports bureaus do not come under the direct administration of GAS. The promotion prospects of local sports officials are therefore a matter for local governments to decide. Running the National Games is the only way that GAS can encourage local governments to be engaged in and promote sports.

 

The recent Games also brought to the fore a sharpened conflict between national and local interests. Several athletes reportedly performed poorly at the Helsinki championships to save their energy for the Nanjing Games. Feng Shuyong, vice director of the Athletics Administrative Center, denounced this, saying that "they put their provinces before their country."

 

With the 2008 Beijing Olympics coming up, Xie Qionghuan, a professor with the Beijing Sports University and former head of GAS' Policy and Statute Department, pointed out that the current discussion on the pros and cons of the National Games is a good opportunity for the country to reconsider its sports strategy.

 

(China.org.cn by Shao Da, November 4, 2005)