Considerate talk丨Asian Games 1500th gold! It's just gold

Written by 丨 Horsen

Editor丨 Feng Xiao

With the Chinese girls winning the women's eight-man sculls coxed final, China's total number of gold medals at the previous Asian Games has finally officially exceeded the "1500" mark, and interestingly, the time when the Chinese Legion achieved the "1000 gold" achievement coincided with the Guangzhou Asian Games thirteen years ago – perhaps playing at home will really bring some extra good luck.

The 1,500 gold medals are certainly a remarkable achievement, but in fact, this milestone event, which should have been written about, did not make much of a splash in today's social media traffic, as if it were just an ordinary record.

And more and more spectators, for the athletes who play for the country on the field, more only encouragement, support and affirmation, but for the gold medal is very light - as long as you do your best.

From the first time New China participated in the Asian Games in 1974, to the much-anticipated Beijing Asian Games in 1990, to Guangzhou, and then to Hangzhou, the whole of Asia has witnessed how New China has climbed to the top step by step and become a sports giant, but at the same time, the attitude of the people towards the Asian Games gold medal is exactly the opposite, from the original hard pursuit, hard work, step by step to dull, to the current "just do your best".

The essence of the sport has not changed, nor has the concept of pursuing unity and friendship in the Asian Games, but there is no doubt that the mentality of the Chinese people has changed imperceptibly.

Needless to say, the guiding principle of sports in the mainland is now the widely criticized "gold medal theory", but that is caused by special historical reasons.

At that time, China was about to embark on the great road of reform and opening up. However, first, the country's poverty and the low living standards of the domestic people have led to the lack of national self-confidence among the Chinese people; Second, China has been separated from the world for a long time and needs a window to show its face to the outside world - so the athletes who participated in the Asian Games and the Olympic Games at that time needed to "win glory for the country" in addition to fighting for their own honor.

Chinese delegation at the closing ceremony of the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Jingying)

The 1974 Tehran Asian Games was the first time that New China participated in such an important intercontinental sports event. At that time, Deng Xiaoping, vice premier in charge of sports work, attached great importance to this, and not only nominated Major General Zhao Zhenghong, an old Red Army who had performed well in Sino-US table tennis diplomacy, as the person in charge of the Asian Games delegation, but also further revised the policy of "friendship first, competition second" that New China has been implementing for many years to "friendship if you want to compete", raising the results to an unprecedentedly important position.

From the current point of view, this decision naturally has many controversial points, but no decision can be beyond the times - no matter how the Olympic Games flaunt their equality, unity and friendship, but in fact, the sports arena is a battlefield without gunsmoke in modern national competition, which symbolizes a country's organizational ability, scientific and technological ability and comprehensive national strength, is a window to show national quality, and is a symbol of national rise.

Japan did just that—with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, they declared themselves out of the postwar gloom.

South Korea did just that — with the 1988 Seoul Olympics, they expressed their commitment to modernization.

Brazil did the same – with the Rio 2016 Olympics showing off the new fruits of its economic reforms.

Back to that era of poverty and whiteness, after a hundred years of poverty and weakness and long-term isolation from the world, Chinese want to make up for regrets, increase recognition, regain self-confidence and embrace the world, and the "gold medal" is the best proof.

The opening ceremony of the 1990 Beijing Asian Games

The unprecedented success of the 1990 Beijing Asian Games and the excellent performance of the Chinese delegation at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games continued to strengthen this understanding, so in 1995, the General Administration of Sports of the People's Republic of China proposed the Olympic gold medal strategy, taking the "gold medal" as the focus and evaluation standard of national sports work, and the General Administration of Sports will also tilt the human resources and resources for those unpopular projects that have a better chance of competing for the gold medal.

It has to be said that the effect of this strategy was immediate, China quickly became a gold medal power alongside the United States and Russia, and countless star athletes, such as Lang Ping, Li Ning, Kong Linghui, Deng Yaping, Gao Min and Liu Xiang, have indeed become a panacea for improving national self-confidence.

However, guided by this thinking, what happens to individual athletes is destined to become irrelevant.

Behind the light is the "handicap" doubt cloud of the ping badminton team, the "forbidden drug" turmoil of Ma Jiajun, and the sad heroic tears of Li Ning and Liu Xiang.

In 2008, Cui Dalin, who served as deputy director of the General Administration of Sports, eventually led the Chinese delegation to win the first place in the Olympic gold medal table for the first time. But in an interview with Southern Weekend, Cui Dalin said this intriguing remark: "Even excluding political demands, modern countries must rely on Olympic gold medals to prove comprehensive national strength and even the dignity of human races." ”

In the same year, Liu Xiang withdrew sadly, and was accused by thousands of people, and ten thousand arrows pierced his heart.

This is a necessary sacrifice, this is the sadness of the times.

But fortunately, sacrifices will not be forgotten, sorrow will always pass, and the times will always progress.

Wang Zhizhi, a former basketball national player who was also referred to by Qianfu, was deeply touched by this change in the public opinion situation.

Wang Zhizhi, who led the team to the counterattack, ended his last Asian Games journey with a gold medal

In the men's basketball final of the Guangzhou Asian Games, he almost single-handedly led the Chinese team against the trend and cut the gold medal, and at the award ceremony, all the team members hung the gold medal around his neck and made a gesture of worship to him - but he showed great indifference.

In an interview with Yang Yi, a famous domestic football critic, he explained: "Indifference is because of self-confidence, if you have strength, you will naturally be confident. ”

Yes, with strength, you will naturally be confident.

With the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as the dividing point, China's economy embarked on another fast track after reform and development, becoming the world's largest interactive market, the world's second largest economic entity, and the world's second largest military power.

More and more miracles are born in this ancient land, we have proven ourselves in the sports arena, and we have proved ourselves in the real state building, why do we need a small gold medal as a fig leaf of dignity?

More and more athletes can finally get rid of the shackles of the "system" and show their truest selves.

Wu Yanni participated in the Hangzhou Asian Games

The flamboyant Lin Dan, the fiery Li Na, the rebellious Zhang Jike, and then the Hong Wilderness girl Fu Yuanhui, the white crane bright wings Zhang Guowei, the little yellow duck Yang Qian, the spicy strips Quan Hongchan and the unafraid of the world...

They are no longer athletes who need to "win glory for the country", but are living and three-dimensional people.

At the Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese women's volleyball team suffered an extremely painful loss, and the mixed doubles combination of Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen also lost to Japanese players in the final, but when we opened the online comment, most of the messages were saying-

"You're all very good athletes, you're really great."

Even if there is a small number of criticisms, it is a matter of the game itself, and there is no longer the ethereal heavy burden.

This is probably what the sages said, "Knowing etiquette in a cangxi manner".

Of course, this is not to say that the gold medal is no longer important, after all, it still represents the highest glory of a sport, but it just returns sports to pure sports.

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphatically pointed out that it is necessary to promote the integration of national fitness and national health and build a modern sports power.

This also represents that the historical mission of the former "gold-only theory" has come to an end.

Perhaps, from now on, advocating national sports and fitness and pursuing pure sports and competitive fun will become the main perspective of the Chinese people to view large-scale comprehensive sports events such as the Asian Games and the Olympic Games.

1,500 gold medals is just 1,500 gold medals.