Winter Olympics: Race Of Only Children
The historical moment occurs after 39 minutes and 14 seconds. This preliminary round match has progressed as far as a goal is scored for a Chinese men's team for the first time in more than a hundred years of Olympic ice hockey history; it's 1:3 against Germany. "We are the first page in Team China's history book," said Jieruimi Shimisi, the goalkeeper and captain. "We are Chinese Olympians and I hope China is proud of us."
There is a reason why he emphasizes his national pride so much. Jieruimi Shimisi's real name is Jeremy Smith and he comes from Dearborn, Michigan. He speaks just enough Chinese to ask for directions and order something to eat in his adopted home of Beijing. The 32-year-old enjoyed a second division career of more than 400 games in the American Hockey League before joining Kunlun Red Star three years ago. Team location: Beijing.
The Red Stars are a state affair, oh no, a piece of world politics. Because in 2016 - a year after Beijing was awarded the contract for the current winter games - a contract was signed that sealed the participation of the team in the Russian professional league KHL. Eyewitnesses to the event: Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
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Years later, when it became apparent that the hosts of the Winter Games, who were guaranteed a starting place in the ice hockey tournament, would not be able to get a competitive team of local players together, Kunlun Red Star was made the national team without further ado. Just three Chinese nationals belong to the team, which is owned by billionaire Billy Ngok; the rest are Americans and Canadians, whose names are all sinicized. "I like my new name".
China's ice hockey team is just the most outlandish attempt to force the country into a winter sports nation. In team sports in particular - especially in a sport as dangerous as ice hockey - it's not that easy. Among other things, this is a consequence of the decades-long one-child policy of the communist government – if you only have one child, you don’t want it to get injured in the physical clashes on the ice.
Education is the royal road to success; until you are exhausted you can train over the books and jostle for places at the best universities. In this race of only children, however, the team spirit does not thrive, without which success in team sports cannot be had.
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But tradition and a broad base are often missing in individual sports, which is why naturalization is a means of promoting sports here, as in ice hockey. The freeski artist Eileen Gu (Gu Ailing in Chinese) or the figure skater Zhu Yi (formerly Beverly Zhu), both native Americans, were at least provided with a Chinese passport (since naturalizations in China are extremely rare, the actual status is not provided of the athletes made a big secret). And where foreign talent cannot be landed, at least prominent international coaches are hired. The biathlon legend Ole Einar Bjørndalen and his wife Darja Domratschawa instruct the Chinese skiers, the German record Olympic champion Andre Lange takes care of the bobsledders.
A prime example is skeleton skiing, in which even latecomers such as the successful German skiers Christopher Grotheer and Axel Jungk (they were ski jumpers for a long time) can succeed. "The Chinese wanted to win the gold medal here," says German national coach Christian Baude, "that's why they invested everything." The construction of the dragon track, on which not only bobsledding and tobogganing but also skeleton competitions were held, is said to have cost at least half a billion euros.
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The home advantage is doubly important in pandemic times: the Chinese could have completed up to 2,000 training runs, rumor has it the international competition, who had to make do with a few dozen because of the closed borders. A lot has also been invested in off-track training:
In the end, the gold medals went to German athletes, but at least local Wengang Yan won the bronze medal with the best time in the last run. A success from the drawing board, for which not only the state but also the athlete gave everything: "For two years I ate so much, sometimes ten eggs at once," said Wengang Yan, who only weighed 68 kilograms when joining the national team. So he managed to reach 80 kilograms and to keep it.
The example of Korea shows how difficult it is to justify lasting success with such brute methods: At the games in Pyeongchang four years ago, the local Sungbin Yun, who also came from nowhere, won the gold medal. Now, four years later, he was a distant twelfth.
In other winter sports, China is trying to make it to the top, especially with high-tech. Findings from the aviation industry were transferred to speed skating: With the help of sensors attached to the bodies of the runners, data on their movements, muscle strength, position of the runners, balance, the exact path on the ice and much more can be collected.
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From this, an algorithm calculates individual plans for each athlete for the optimal use of energy and, just like with airplanes, the best route. "Thanks to the scientific approach to training, the speed during a race has increased by 10 percent," quoted the China Daily newspaperKe Peng from Beihang University in Beijing, who once researched aircraft construction and is now the scientific director of the Chinese speed skating team. After eight decisions in speed skating, the hosts have won a gold medal so far: Tingyu Gao won the 500 meters in a new Olympic record time.
For the communist state leadership, sport is two things: a prestige project for the international image, but also a school of discipline for the whole nation. "According to a circular from the State Council, China will expand the promotion of sports and physical activity among the population during the period of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025)," writes the Xinhua News Agency. Several attempts have been made to maximize success with planned economy methods. "Project 119" was launched after the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney:
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It aimed for 119 gold medals in sports in which China has not traditionally been strong, but where there is a lot to win due to the large number of competitions, such as swimming and rowing , canoeing and in athletics. China may have won the most gold medals at the 2008 home Olympics, but success in Project 119 sports has been lacking.
The world's most important sport is also to be conquered in China with a master plan: soccer. "We want to organize a world championship, we want to take part in a world championship and of course we want to be world champions at some point," announced President Xi Jinping in 2015. 20,000 training centers and 60,000 sports fields were to be built and 6,000 coaches trained.
At the same time, massive investments were made in the top division, the Chinese Super League. In the current FIFA world rankings, however, the giant empire is only 75th, behind Cape Verde and just ahead of Oman - a humiliation.
Even in the core disciplines of the Winter Games, the alpine and Nordic ski competitions, Chinese athletes are still not competitive internationally. As of February 16, 2022, the country is ranked sixth in the medal table.
And to succeed in a real team sport (not just in a short track relay) should be an ultra-long-term project. "If you think of Russia or Canada - how long have they been playing, 100 years?" asks Jieruimi Shimisi, who was once Jerry Smith. "China is a seed that has just been planted. But it's growing. And it's pretty cool to be a part of."
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