Sports thread: Everything sport related here.
- Thread starter Gollevainen
- Start date
behond the goalie said, wuhan 2019, 2019 world military games?
The Chinese Table Tennis team first lost to Korea and now lost to Sweden at the World Team Championships in the group stages. This hasn't been seen for a long time.
Something that people are concerned about is the current structure, coaching and training of the national team. Other countries are getting better but the national team hasn't really evolved as fast. There is also concern with the lack of real young geniuses coming through the pipeline who can perform under pressure in this new environment. Wang Chuqin for example was supposed to be the young guy from last session and he's already 25 now making him technically the big brother to many members of the team.
This problem has also been seen in badminton but it has already been like that for years.
No country can remain absolutely dominant in their sport forever. Even America has lost loads of swimming gold to Australia. But China needs to look into why this is happening.
how is the discipline and fitness of the current TT team? i remember watching MaLong, Zhang Jike era games in youtube, theyre really fit.
.
I may not remember the names well, but they were great masters.
When I was young, I watched the World Table Tennis Championships on our TV, when a huge storm of Chinese players arrived, especially Chuang Tzu, it was a concert. And the most applause went to the excellent Chinese defender Zhang Tzu Lin, who showed incredible resilience and lost to Chuang Tzu in the semifinals. Unfortunately, I only got to the hall for the lower rounds, but I saw former Czech world champions Andreadis and Štípek, they were no longer enough for China. But it was a greater experience with TV, in that hall it was quite far to watch. Oh yeah, the screens were only 30 cm..
I may not remember the names well, but they were great masters.
manqiangrexue
Brigadier
I think China's current transformation into a rich country will see us lose some medals in the "poor" sports like weightlifting, ping pong and gain some medals in the "rich" sports like swimming, snowboarding, etc... We are out of an era where a ton of Chinese people lived in poverty and would, without much objection, give up their children to harsh training regiments in hopes for a gold medal, but more realistically because they think even if the kid can end up a coach in the city, it would be better than being dirt poor in the countryside.
Our weightlifting team used to be people who repeated movements a thousand times a day in unisen, standing in columns and rows like terracotta warriors. Each one of them, undistinguishable from the rest and with no words or emotions to express their one common desire to win. Now, everybody is posting silly clips to Instagram, joking about missed lifts, showing off hobbies like fishing and fancy exotic cars. Athletes used to fully commit themselves and to maximize their chances of winning, dating was out of the question until retired (usually late 20's); now we have Olympic champions in the prime of their careers and the crux of the fight for a second term Olympic gold medal proposing to their girlfriends on stage during live competitions!
Sports like swimming and the winter olympic events that are traditionally dominated by developed nations have become coveted in China. A parent would refuse if a recruitment coach went to them asking if they'd like to put their kids in gymnastics, a sport where 6 year olds with shaved heads cry as they hang until failure on rings with centimeter thick calices, hit with a yardstick if their legs break straight lock; that gold is for them to see on TV, not for their children to suffer for. But if you asked them if their kid would like to be trained in swimming or snowboarding while keeping them on their schoolwork, now, there is interest.
Whether the change is good or bad for our medal count is not terribly important. Sports are for entertainment. Our economy, technology and military are where national power comes from.
Our weightlifting team used to be people who repeated movements a thousand times a day in unisen, standing in columns and rows like terracotta warriors. Each one of them, undistinguishable from the rest and with no words or emotions to express their one common desire to win. Now, everybody is posting silly clips to Instagram, joking about missed lifts, showing off hobbies like fishing and fancy exotic cars. Athletes used to fully commit themselves and to maximize their chances of winning, dating was out of the question until retired (usually late 20's); now we have Olympic champions in the prime of their careers and the crux of the fight for a second term Olympic gold medal proposing to their girlfriends on stage during live competitions!
Sports like swimming and the winter olympic events that are traditionally dominated by developed nations have become coveted in China. A parent would refuse if a recruitment coach went to them asking if they'd like to put their kids in gymnastics, a sport where 6 year olds with shaved heads cry as they hang until failure on rings with centimeter thick calices, hit with a yardstick if their legs break straight lock; that gold is for them to see on TV, not for their children to suffer for. But if you asked them if their kid would like to be trained in swimming or snowboarding while keeping them on their schoolwork, now, there is interest.
Whether the change is good or bad for our medal count is not terribly important. Sports are for entertainment. Our economy, technology and military are where national power comes from.
Last edited: