Chinese Elite Sports-Let The Good Times Roll- Jeff Ruffolo
October 31, 2012
To give you a sense of comparison, in Athens, Greece, the Greek Government is, today, spending US$1 Million a month to maintain their empty buildings for the 2004 Summer Olympic Olympics. Doing a bit of calculation … that would be US$12 Million a year or more than US$80 Million (so far) to keep the lights on in Olympic Venues that no one ever uses. Clearly it doesn’t cost that much here in the PRC but again money is just not the object.
When it comes to football, you can just about pick the soccer venue that you want Team China to workout in and to host any foreign team. Here in Guangzhou, more millions were spent in a complete renovation of the Tianhe Football Stadium for its single use during the Asian Games – today it is the home field for the local Evergrande pro team. But this is an exception. For the most part none of these venues are ever used.
The General Administration of Sport in Beijing is the first, last and only sports authority in China. What it says is the Gospel and that is that. This one governing entity makes all decisions on what money goes where and for what. The elite sports that have gained the financial “blessing” of this all-powerful Chinese Government agency include:
· Gymnastics
· Aquatics
· Table Tennis
· Badminton
· Volleyball
· Basketball
Funding for the smaller (or more obscure) Olympic sports such as shooting or equestrian is limited and are really only focused on in the months prior to an Olympics or Asian Games, the next being in Seoul, Korea.
The interesting thing to watch here is what will be the Chinese position relating to their elite Olympic Sports once the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games and 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing are over. These events will complete the current run of global hosted elite sports events here in China dating back to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics with nothing on the horizon as far as the eye can see.
More than likely, China will bid again for the Summer Olympic Games and will put Guangzhou up for international consideration. Having successfully rebuilt itself for the 2010 Asian Games, at a cost that no one will ever really know, Guangzhou has everything in place to host the Olympics.
Shanghai might be next but lacks the sports infrastructure necessary to host the Games.
But then again – who cares when money is no object?
Let the good times roll!
Jeff Ruffolo served as Senior Expert for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee and Executive Advisor for the 16th Asian Games. He is author of Inside the Beijing Olympics (available on Amazon.com) and can be reached at Ruffolopr@hotmail.com
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