Why did Gu Ailing's reputation in China plummet in just over a year, from a new national idol to an international liar?
Because everyone gradually got clear, her skiing is an extremely money-burning, out-and-out aristocratic sport, and it is a game that only a very small number of super-rich and privileged families can afford, and her sentence "I hope more girls fall in love with skiing because of me" is a typical high-sentimental shopping mall talk, which can be called the contemporary sports version of "why not eat minced meat", ordinary people just listen to it, and you will lose if you are serious.
So in the eyes of us ordinary people, what kind of sports are good sports?
Of course, those sports that have no threshold, are close to the people, have low cost, have high mass participation, and do not excessively consume social resources are good sports. Because only people-friendly sports will make the number of participants more and the competitiveness stronger, and the last ones who stand out must be the elites who have been tempered for thousands of years, and those who win the championship must be the real leaders.
In addition, ordinary children change their fate through sports training and become world champions, and they are supergiants in the sports world and admired by thousands of people, so they are closer to everyone's imagination and expectations for inspirational idols, just like Messi and Ronaldo.
But the movement of the aristocracy, which burns money, is different. Originally, the threshold was extremely high, dozens and hundreds of people in the global rich circle were playing, awarding themselves awards, defining themselves as "excellent", and their starting point was the end point that ordinary people could not reach in their lifetime, so how to say "inspirational".
Today, let's take a look at the five major aristocratic sports in the world sports that burn money, these sports not only burn money, but also some of them are super occupied, not close to the people, without the ornamental and confrontational nature of competitive sports, without the attributes of competitive sports exercise, and even become the rich pretending to be forced to sell and package their own props, completely deviating from the original intention of sports.
Such sports are a false god for ordinary people, and the sports stars in these sports are not worthy of being sought after by ordinary people.
One, bowling
Modern bowling originated in ancient Europe as the "Nine Pillars", which was first spread in Germany, the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom, and has since gradually spread around the world.
When archaeologists excavated Egyptian tombs, they found 9 shaped stones and 1 stone ball. The throwing games of the Polynesians of the ancient Pacific also have similarities with modern bowling with their fields and equipment.
These are considered by researchers to be the earliest origins of bowling.
From the perspective of evolution and development, bowling has a history of thousands of years, similar to the ancient Chinese scholar class feast, after the full meal of the puzzle game - pot throwing.
But until now, bowling has not become popular among ordinary people, mainly for two reasons, one is that there is zero spectacle and fun other than the participants, and the other is that the cost of equipment is too high.
The bowling alley generally costs tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, the internal structure and working principle of the machine are very complex, the automatic collection and placement of scattered bottles, and the ball is sent to the pitching area through the conveyor belt are all completed by the machine, it is difficult to imagine that such a set of grand and intelligent machinery and equipment actually serves such a boring game.
The other is the cost of bowling, which varies from region to region, but it is about 150 to 280 yuan per hour, and 30 to 60 yuan per game.
Moreover, there are no bowling alleys in China's third- and fourth-tier cities, and these expensive stadiums are concentrated in economically developed coastal cities where the rich are concentrated, and cannot reach the middle and lower classes like basketball, football or table tennis badminton.
These high-tech equipment, which can easily cost hundreds of millions of dollars, ordinary people can only sigh with admiration.
Second, golf
Ornamental, competitive, and topical are all zero, and the pretending attribute is directly full, and the ceiling of aristocratic sports in the world is burning.
Golfers are generally gentlemen, and they are found in places like beautiful and uncrowded resorts, where the grass is full of flowers, and the birds are sparsely populated, and the golfers are holding clubs, wearing casual shirts and hats, and their every move reflects the elegance of action and scratching their heads, and hats, shoes and shorts are also preferred to choose white colors, in order to deliberately show the status of the spotless rich.
What kind of people are qualified to go to the golf course to play often, just look at Qi Tongwei and Gao Xiaoqin's Shanshui Manor in "In the Name of the People", a high-ranking official and a rich man, ordinary people want to take their children to experience golf on weekends like visiting the park, first pinch their own money bags, and then weigh their identity.
Golf originated in Scotland in the 15th century as a recreational activity among the maharajas and nobles. Later, it began to gradually become popular among the middle class. In the 20s of the 19th century, golf was introduced to Asia, and golf was introduced to China in 1896, which was marked by the establishment of the Shanghai Golf Club in China.
But until today, golf has not become popular among the middle class and the general public around the world, because it is a tailor-made entertainment for the elite, and it is also a sign that the campers have entered the upper class, and naturally isolates ordinary people.
The cost of golfing is very expensive, 10,000 to 30,000 yuan for a coach, only 10 lessons, and about 1000000 dollars a year if you want to play professionally.
In terms of equipment, the clubs that look extremely simple are also divided into levels, with 2 to 30,000 two-star clubs, 3 to 40,000 three-star clubs, 100,000 four-star clubs, and 200,000 five-star clubs.
The clothes worn for golf, the T-shirts that look no different from the stalls, cost 3,000 to 4,000 yuan, and the gloves cost 100 yuan.
If you are a member, the cost of playing a golf game is greatly reduced, but it usually costs tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a membership, and it usually costs 100,000 yuan.
In addition to this, there is a tip for caddies, which usually costs about 200 yuan, and the better ones have 500 or even 700.
Compared to other sports, golf does not consume much energy and calories, the golfer is only responsible for swinging and walking, and the most tiring part of picking up the ball is also done by the caddie.
Under the ultra-high threshold of money, the monthly salary is only a few thousand yuan, and the leisure time is often occupied by overtime, China's billions of working people have never had the opportunity to go to the golf course once in their lives.
In addition, the area of the golf course is the largest in the sport.
A golf course covers an area of about 975-1,125 acres, more than 60,000 square meters, equivalent to 6,300 table tennis courts, 9,700 badminton courts, 1,900 basketball courts and more than 110 football fields, destroying a golf course in China, the area is enough to cover 10 to 15 key middle schools and 3 to 5 first-class universities.
Looking down on the golf course from the air, do you want to be surrounded by the hunting ground that the relatives of the ancient princes and nobles gave themselves?
In addition to the huge area of land, the amount of water consumed by golf courses is also staggering, with more than 600 golf courses in the country consuming 560 million tons of fresh water per year, which can meet the annual water needs of 512 million people.
What is the total number of people in the country who can afford to play golf and regularly play golf? 330,000, which is only 0.2% of the national population.
Compared with such exaggerated data, it is not an exaggeration to say that "labor and money" are not exaggerated!
I don't know why aristocratic and rich sports that consume so many resources, pretend to be full of attributes, and have nothing to do with ordinary people, often appear in CCTV's five sports channels.
As a pseudo-football fan, I thought that the square dance of the uncles and aunts was more qualified to appear on CCTV's sports channel than golf.
Three, equestrian
The Olympic Games can only appear in the eyes of the people in the field of sports, not because it is unpopular and no one plays, but because it burns money.
Equestrianism, a competition in which humans and animals work together, requires the rider and horse to demonstrate grace, courage, agility and speed on the field after years of training.
Equestrianism originated from the productive labor process of primitive humans. Chinese equestrianism also has a long history, flourishing in the Zhou Dynasty, flourishing in the Tang Dynasty, Zhong Ming Ding Food House, generations of hairpins like to play sports.
Modern equestrian sports began in England, Europe, and were loved by royalty and aristocracy. In 1900, in the second Olympic Games, equestrianism was included as an official event, with three events: horse racing, wider hurdles and higher hurdles. In 1912, individual dressage, show jumping team and three-day events were added to the Olympic programme.
Originally, this kind of unpopular, niche, and low-competitive sports is very much in line with the taste of China's Olympic gold medal strategy, and it is not as harmful as weightlifting gymnastics, but equestrian is more expensive.
Usually, the charging standard of an equestrian club is as follows: horseback riding experience class, exclusive price 98 yuan, only 20 minutes, professional saddle class, 388 yuan 45 minutes, 5-person group saddle class: 288 yuan/person, 45 minutes per person, monthly card 2000 yuan, a total of 10 lessons, one 45 minutes, excluding weekends.
The club membership fee is about 2w a year, and the coach fee is generally about 200 saddle hours for the junior level. But after starting some games, the coach's fee will double until about 1000 saddle hours.
If you want to become a professional equestrian, you need to buy your own horse, 130 level imported warm blood, about 30 to 50w. Foster maintenance of horses costs between 1 and 20,000 per month.
For ordinary salaried people, buying a horse is equivalent to spending the money of a luxury car, and tens of thousands of foster care fees per month are equivalent to gas money and insurance, which is completely for an ancestor, which is more expensive than the BMW 7 Series.
For the children of wealthy families in big cities, equestrianism is the existence at the top of the chain of contempt for sports interest classes, which is not much higher than piano, ballet, and swimming, at least many middle-class families who aspire to be among the upper class think so.
Fourth, skiing
Thanks to the popularity of Gu Ailing, a citizen of the world, we know that skiing is a sport that only the powerful can afford, and is known as one of the "three major loser sports".
There are 6 ski events in the Winter Olympics, namely alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and snowboarding, with a total of 55 events.
Unlike golf, which has no risk of injury, skiing is an extreme sport, and it is enough to watch and competitive, but it has too high requirements for the venue, and if it is in a warm climate, you have to go to a professional ski resort.
Professional ski resorts generally start N ice-making units to work continuously, producing at least about 10,000 cubic meters of ice before they can be used by athletes, which sounds very easy.
In a ski resort in Guangxi, three ice machines worked for just 20 days, and the energy consumption cost was 600,000 yuan.
As an ordinary person, how much does it cost to go to the ski resort? First of all, a set of high-end ski equipment is essential. According to the "White Paper on China's Ski Industry" released by the Mob Research Institute, the price of ski boots is about 1,000-8,000 yuan, the price of ski clothes is 100-8,000 yuan, the price of skis is 500-40,000 yuan, and the price of bindings is 1,000-4,000 yuan. Other accessories, such as gloves, helmets, and snow goggles, range from tens to thousands of yuan.
And if you want to train your child to become a skier, the amount of money spent is astronomical.
Take, for example, two of the most popular Chinese skiers at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Gu Ailing and Su Yiming. Gu Ailing's grandmother is a senior engineer of the Ministry of Communications of China, and her mother Gu Yan went to the United States in the 90s of the last century, engaged in the financial industry, and has her own venture capital company.
$1 million is an astronomical amount for ordinary people, but compared to the wealth that Gu Ailing harvested in China last year, $1 million is just a drizzle, just like we are too lazy to pick up five yuan on the road.
Let's talk about Su Yiming, he has a rich father Su Qun, a well-known entrepreneur in Jilin Province, who usually loves skiing, so his son became a professional skier, which fulfilled his father's ski dream.
At last year's Beijing Winter Olympics, when Gu Ailing and Su Yiming were born to become new national idols, countless parents were enthusiastic, hoping that their children would learn from them, win glory for the country, and become the second Gu Ailing or Su Yiming.
But after studying their family history, I found that it is not a world that working-class people such as me can squeeze into, people are just polite, as ordinary people, the college entrance examination is a reliable way out for children from ordinary families.
Fifth, F1 racing
In the eyes of an ordinary person, F1 cars are no different from a cloth on my head, a greyhound race organized by the richest Middle Eastern tycoons in the world.
The same large-scale entertainment games organized by the rich, the same spending money, the same individual participants are worth a lot of money, and the same dick is not allowed to enter the idlers.
How much does F1 car burn money? An ordinary F1 car is also a small goal, the engine is worth 60 million, and it is 6 Rolls-Royce, and the life of the engine is extremely short, it will be scrapped after running 3000 kilometers, the cockpit is 6 million, and it is a large villa in a first-tier city, with a special steering wheel of 350,000, and a BMW 3 series, the cheapest is four tires, one is 18,000, but a game needs to replace 12 tires, about 220,000, and it is a BYD Tang.
A race course consumes an average of 57,000 yuan per kilometer and 240 yuan per second, which is physically faster than burning money with fire, and is known as the "banknote incinerator".
In addition, there are about 200 drivers in a team, and the annual salary is about 300 million.
It is even more difficult for an ordinary person to become an F1 driver, because he needs to take a super driver's license, and if he wants to take a super driver's license, he needs to drive a Martin car for practice from an early age, which costs about 500,000 a year, which is enough to shame 99% of ordinary families.
Formula 1 was once one of the world's three major sporting events alongside the Football World Cup and the Olympic Games, and the first race was held at Silverstone in England in 1950.
The reason why it was once so popular is that many people once believed that it was the most high-tech sport in the world, and that F1 cars included the most advanced technologies such as aerodynamics, radio communications, and electrical engineering, and were a testing ground for many new technologies.
In addition, the requirements of the drivers who drive the car are also very demanding, in extreme environments, the drivers must be required to have far beyond the ordinary physical strength, cardiopulmonary function and rapid reaction ability, F1 was once a combination of high-tech, team sports, driver wisdom and courage, representing the crystallization of science and technology, the glory and dream of human civilization.
But in recent years, F1 has become more and more declining, one is because the annual championship was monopolized by the Ferrari team, and in recent years, it has been monopolized by the Mercedes-Benz team, and the competition is becoming more and more suspenseful, and the second is that the racing technology of different teams is becoming more and more convergent, and the technology is getting farther and farther away from the practical car manufacturing technology.
The world's famous F1 teams, Ferrari, Mercedes, Alfa, Renault, BMW, etc., how far are these car brands from the lives of ordinary people?
Moreover, the rise of new energy vehicles in recent years has gradually punctured the lies about F1 cars, making it clear that it is a rich man's money-burning game. What's the use of increasing the speed of a car to 400 kilometers per hour, 500 kilometers per hour, 800 kilometers per hour? Can you reduce energy consumption? Can you expand the living space of human beings?
Tesla and BYD did not organize a racing competition in terms of trams, which still represents the direction of human high-tech and the future needs of human life, and the technology is still updated iteratively every year.
Musk has already begun to think about getting human beings out of the gravitational pull of the earth and engaging in the Starship program to immigrate to the moon and Mars, and those F1 teams are still trying their best to defeat their competitors and racking their brains for how to win that little bit of fame and profit.
There is only one way for F1 to return to the top, and that is to aim for the sea of stars.