The 2024 Paris Olympics, which lasted for half a month, took place from July 26th to the final day of August 11th when athletes from various countries made their last push. Especially noteworthy was the last-minute victory of the US women’s basketball team in the gold medal match, narrowly overtaking the previously top-ranked Chinese team with 40 gold, 44 silver, and 42 bronze medals compared to China’s 40 gold, 27 silver, and 24 bronze. Similarly, in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the US team also surpassed the Chinese team on the final day.
The US is a sports powerhouse, with sports deeply rooted in school education and being an essential part of people’s lives. It is interesting to note that China only won its first medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and over 20 years later, in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China won 48 gold medals while the US only achieved 36 gold medals. In the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the US team won 39 gold medals with a total of 113 medals, but China also won 38 gold medals, with a total of 89 medals.
Zhao Junshuo, the host of “US-China-Taiwan Situation Room,” stated in an interview that when it comes to sports events, despite the impressive number of Olympic gold medals for both the US and China, there still exists a significant gap between them.
Firstly, he mentioned that China (the CCP) uses government resources to select events where it is easier for athletes of East Asian origin to win, such as diving, table tennis, badminton, etc. Hence, in this Olympics, among China’s 40 gold medals, eight were in diving.
Although many people consider the US to be a sports powerhouse with a thriving sports culture and ample resources for all athletes, Zhao Junshuo pointed out otherwise. He mentioned that not all US Olympic athletes are professionals, and they may not receive any subsidies from the federal government. They have to rely on indirect support from private enterprises through their respective sports management committees.
Zhao Junshuo highlighted the surprising decision made by the US team in the men’s 4×400 meters relay preliminaries in the Paris Olympics by entrusting the lead-off runner position to a 16-year-old boy named Wilson. In the previous Tokyo Olympics, the US team won the gold medal. Zhao Junshuo remarked, “This decision was not easy; they risked losing a medal, but the team chose to believe in this young athlete, willing to nurture him and give him a chance.” The result proved successful as the US team broke the record and secured the gold, making Wilson the youngest Olympian in US track and field history.
Furthermore, Zhao Junshuo analyzed that for the past two decades, China has been using state power and extreme training methods to produce Olympic gold medalists, where these athletes are essentially tools to bring honor to the country. Therefore, some athletes who excel in the Olympic arena may receive temporary attention from the government and businesses for political propaganda purposes, but once the hype fades, they may be left unsupported. For instance, a former Chinese gymnastics champion was spotted begging on the streets wearing the national team’s uniform, and a national weightlifting champion became infertile due to long-term use of testosterone.
In addition to the differences in how athletes are cultivated, one can also see a strong contrast in the sports culture between the US and China, as Zhao Junshuo noted that the giant billboards and videos outside the sports venues, sponsored by major brands, are mostly American. The uplifting music played at the Olympics also originates from the US. While China may have a similar number of medals to the US, Zhao Junshuo questioned which major Chinese corporation can produce outstanding advertisements or create moving music on such occasions.
Finally, Zhao Junshuo concluded that sports culture is also a part of a country’s soft power, where China significantly lags behind the US. The so-called “politics stay in politics, sports stay in sports” by the CCP is just one of their usual tactics to separate the two realms.