Since the Opium War in 1840, the Qing court's national strength has declined, the people's living standards have become more unbearable, and in addition, the Western powers have deliberately dumped opium on China, Chinese there are many opium addicts, weak bodies, yellow muscles, and even weaker physiques. In 1896, north China Daily News, an English-language newspaper founded by the British in Shanghai, published an article by an Englishman living in China, ridiculing and mocking everything about China, referring to China as the Sick Man of East Asia, the sick man of East Asia.
After that, due to the weakening of national strength and frequent wars, this situation has not been improved, and until 1917, the young Mao Zedong still shouted loudly, and he published "Research on Sports" in the "New Youth", putting forward the famous view: "If you want to civilize its spirit, first savage its physique." ”
In 1932, Liu Changchun "went to the meeting with a single knife" and participated in the 10th Los Angeles Olympic Games, and after the competition, due to insufficient travel expenses, he returned to the motherland with the donation of local overseas Chinese. In 1936, at the Eleventh Olympic Games held in Berlin, Germany, the delegation of the Republic of China participated in nearly thirty events and sent a delegation of 69 people. Later, in all the participating events, except for pole vaulter Fu Baolu, who entered the rematch, the rest of the participants had been eliminated in the preliminary round, and the Republic of China Olympic team was completely destroyed. It is said that when the Chinese athletes were passing through Singapore on their way back to China, the local newspaper published a cartoon of foreigners satirizing and mocking Chinese: under the olympic ring flag, a group of Chinese with long pigtails, long robes and horse coats, described as withered, carrying a large duck egg on a stretcher, entitled "The Sick Man of East Asia". At the beginning of the founding of New China, the average life expectancy was only 35 years. Before the founding of New China in 1949, the national physique was weak, the level of sports was low, the professional talents were scarce, the stadiums were withered, and the Chinese competition did not produce a world champion.
On June 10, 1952, Comrade Mao Zedong wrote an inscription for the inaugural meeting of the All-China Sports Federation entitled "Develop Sports and Enhance the People's Physique", which sounded the clarion call for the development of China's sports industry, and in November 1952, the old marshal He Long became the first director of the National Sports Committee. A sports management system under the unified leadership of the sports committee, the specific implementation of various departments, the division of labor and cooperation, and a high degree of concentration has been gradually established, forming an organizational implementation system that combines the state office (sports committee), the department office (various industry systems), and the unit office (organs, enterprises, factories and mines, schools).
Under the guidance of the correct policy, coupled with the continuous improvement of the country's comprehensive strength, and the unremitting efforts of generations of people, in 1956, the weightlifter Chen Jingkai created the first world record for New China. In 1959, table tennis player Rong Guotuan won the first world championship in New China. In 1960, China's mountaineers created the miracle of climbing Mount Everest from the north slope for the first time in human history. In 1984, shooter Xu Haifeng won the first Olympic gold medal in New China. In 1984, After the reform and opening up, China participated in the Summer Olympic Games for the first time, and achieved the excellent result of ranking fourth in the gold medal list.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the Chinese sports delegation ranked first in the gold medal table and second in the medal table, making another major historic breakthrough. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Chinese sports delegation achieved a breakthrough of "zero" gold medals at the Winter Olympics. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the Chinese sports delegation won 5 gold medals and 11 medals, and the results of the Winter Olympics achieved a historic breakthrough. In Asia, since the 9th Asian Games in New Delhi in 1982, China has topped the Asian Games gold medal list for 10 consecutive times.
In 2001, Beijing won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games, from August 8 to 24, 2008, the 29th Olympic Games were held in Beijing, and on July 31, 2015, Beijing and Zhangjiakou won the right to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, becoming the only city in the world that has hosted both the Summer Olympic Games and the Winter Olympic Games. On February 4, 2022, the 24th Winter Olympic Games will open in Beijing.
Due to the improvement of the overall physical fitness of the Chinese people, coupled with scientific training methods, many projects that were not very good at before have made qualitative breakthroughs, in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Su Bingtian broke the Asian record, ran 9.83 seconds, was the first Asian to enter the Olympic 100 meters final, creating the history of the yellow race.
Step by step, the hat of the "Sick Man of East Asia" is thrown into the Pacific Ocean, and a weak and thin man gradually transforms into a robust man. In addition to the shortcomings of individual projects, it is still being explored, such as Chinese football.
Of course, the next spring of Chinese football should not be far away...