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Why European and American Athletes Don’t Thank Their Countries When Winning Awards

欧美运动员获奖为什么不感谢国家

By 邵建 (Shao Jian)

Original Publication:

珠江晚报 (Zhu Jiang Evening Paper)

Link to Original Article

Translated by Anton Lee Wishik II for Mei-Zhong Guanxi

During the Olympics, some netizens recommended that August 8th be established as ‘Sports Day.’  Some proceeded to interpret this holiday as ‘All the People’s Sports Day.’  Other than the folk-custom and commemorative meanings of holidays, in general they are established for the powerless and weak.  For example, in a masculine society, Women’s Day is needed; as trees are clear-cut, Plant a Tree Day is needed.  On the whole, it’s also like Labor Day, Children’s Day, Bird Lovers Day, etc.  If a sports day for all the people is to be established, it would also contain this kind of meaning.  This is due to the contrast between sports for the masses and Olympic gold medals, which is clearly problematic.

One of the methods for solving this problem is to alter the currently existing national sports system.  There are two kinds of sports in the world, one kind is sports, and the other is Chinese sports.  With the Olympics as an example, the European and American athletes who participated in the games were if not amateurs, then professionals.  This was not so for Chinese athletes who were uniformly specialists.  Disregarding amateurs, the difference between professionals and specialists is that professional athletes rely on ticket sales and advertising whereas specialists rely on their nation and are completely nourished and supported by the state.  The following is a contrast that is often made: when athletes from a European or American-style system receive an award, they thank their partner profusely, but why don’t they thank their country?  This is because their award bears no relationship to their nation.  It is not possible that their home country would take taxpayers’ money and use it towards allowing someone to play a game for an award.  Please note, for the Olympics the original meaning of the English word ‘game’ is 游戏(1).  Thus, what the Olympics puts in plain language is the competitive sports play of humanity. However, even if it is just a game, when successful Chinese athletes speak into the microphone, they must thank the nation that fostered them.  These are not just cliches, but the facts.  Of course, to go one step further with the facts, rather than saying the state holds the money, in fact, all of us taxpayers hold the money.  Therefore, connecting this phenomenon with another phenomenon is more meaningful.  That is, there are two kinds of authors in the world, one kind is an author, and the other kind is a state author.  This is a typical Chinese characteristic.  For culture, specialized authors should be fostered.  For sports, specialized athletes should be fostered.

This is a systemic problem, and is equal to a problematic system – otherwise, systemic reform would be impossible to mention.  The problem lies in the fact that the path of national sports is not in accordance with the Olympic sports spirit.  The Olympics encourage the participation of everybody.  This kind of participation involves spare time outside of one’s profession, because for most people in the world, it’s impossible for one’s occupation to involve playing games.  Of course, due to the enjoyability of watching some sports events’ intense confrontations, such as American basketball and football, these sports have already been commercialized and professionalized.  However, one must stop there and go no further.  If taken further, the popular sports framework will be brokenthrough, and it will become a state sport.  State sports involve the government fostering sports.  Sports for play are fundamentally an individual event and an event among the people.  From the beginning, they bear no relationship with government.

Since the government takes taxpayers money in order to manage sports, its direction is very clear.  Namely, sports expenditures should be used for all taxpayers.  The government is responsible for supplying all kinds of complete sports facilities for the entire populace and should not be used in pursuit of winning gold medals.  I don’t know what the budget is when the state allots finances for sports for winning one gold medal (perhaps there is simply no limit), but no matter what, if there is a fixed budget, the theory behind cutting up the cake is some big pieces and some small pieces.  And if the funds for winning gold medals are large, then those used for the entire populace are inevitably small.  Olympic sports encourage the entire population to do sports.  If resources are excessively focused on certain sports projects, from the view of sports for all people, it is very unfair.

If a sports day is established, the significance lies in sports for all the people and not in state sports.  To make sports return to society and thereby cut ties with the government; that is reformation of the sports system.  In fact, in many public affairs, one principle should be upheld: if society can do something, the government should not participate.  After all, the role of government is as a maintainer and not a participator.  I hope that through the positive winds brought by the Olympics, we can gradually begin to include the sports system in the reform of the overall national system.

(The author is a university professor)

Translator’s Endnotes:

1.  This word has a much lighter meaning than sports.  Game, play, and recreation are all valid translations.

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