Asian Games Observation - The Change and Unchanged of China's "Standard-bearer"
The Hangzhou Asian Games will open tomorrow night, with swimmer Qin Haiyang and basketball player Yang Liwei as the flag bearers of the Chinese sports delegation. The former won 4 gold medals at this year's World Swimming Championships, and the new "Frog King" became the new leader of China's swimming army; The latter, as the captain, led the Chinese women's basketball team to win the World Cup runner-up and Asian Cup championship, and while winning the "Fearless Cam Lan" Ya name, he also became one of the few "traffic representatives" in the "Three Balls of China". In addition, their height and image are high-quality, and they are well deserved as flag bearers. On the other hand, social diversity gave rise to the "double flag bearers" at the Tokyo Olympics, and it is expected that this rule will continue at the Asian Games.
Who will carry the flag for Chinese sports? This is a timeless topic. From the perspective of the previous Olympic Games and Asian Games, the flag bearer basically needs to include three conditions: 1. Height advantage and good image; 2. Representation of athletes; 3. There is no competition task on the second day of the opening ceremony. So the problem is, in the past Asian Games and the Olympic Games, the Chinese sports delegation liked to let the Chinese men's basketball team members serve as flag bearers, and this time the men's basketball players once again had no chance to be the flag bearers.
From the return to the Summer Olympic family in 1984 to the eight Olympic Games of the 2012 London Olympics, the flag bearers of the opening ceremony of the Chinese sports delegation were all swept by Chinese men's basketball players. From the first Asian Games in 1974 to the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, the Chinese men's basketball national player served as the flag bearer for seven times at the opening ceremony of the 10th Asian Games. However, this situation began to change at the 2014 Asian Games, where the flag bearer of the Chinese delegation at the opening ceremony was fencing Olympic champion Lei Sheng, who was also the flag bearer of the 2016 Olympic Games; The flag bearer of the Chinese team at the last Asian Games became the taekwondo Olympic champion Zhao Shuai, who also served as the flag bearer of the Chinese team at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics with women's ranking player Zhu Ting.
Back then, the Chinese men's basketball team members had a natural height advantage, and all of them also had thick eyebrows and big eyes that showed a sassy and heroic spirit, and the men's basketball team performance at that time was also the better of the "three big balls", and the influence was great, so it had the potential of "chosen standard-bearer". However, after the 2008 Olympic Games, the performance of the Chinese men's basketball team gradually declined, especially the disastrous defeat of the 2013 Asian Championship, which greatly reduced the "impression score" of the Chinese men's basketball team. In recent years, the idea of choosing flag bearers for Chinese sports delegations is no longer limited to basketball players, from world champions in unpopular sports to outstanding achievements in international popular events, China's sports "flag bearers" are getting closer and closer to the mainstream on the road to the world, paying more and more attention to influence.
Among the 886 Chinese athletes participating in the Hangzhou Asian Games, 36 Olympic champions, but Qin Haiyang and Yang Liwei are not Olympic champions, which shows that the evaluation criteria of the "flag bearer" of China's sports industry are no longer limited to hard indicators such as Olympic gold medals. The "new role models" have continuously made breakthroughs in the field of sports ruled by strong enemies in Europe and the United States, and have constantly "increased fans" and "gone out of the circle", which has greatly lifted the spirit of the people, enhanced national pride, walked in the forefront of the "phalanx", and led the Chinese sports delegation to enter, and they "deservedly deserved".
Chengdu Daily Jinguan News Reporter Huang Yike Responsible Editor He Qitie Editor Wang Qi Photo Xinhua News Agency