South China Morning Post
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China’s Olympic team will be in action at Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 in the next 12 months but sporting success appears to be stagnating. Photo: EPA
Opinion
Jonathan White
Jonathan White

No new Yao Ming or Li Na sees Beijing 2022 host China still punching below its weight in sport

  • Country is thriving off the pitch in sponsorship and hosting events such as Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics but lagging behind on it
  • Pioneers such as Li Na and Yao Ming have not been followed while F1 hope Zhou Guanyu is seen as an outlier
Jonathan White
Jonathan White
Why you can trust SCMP

Is it fair to say that Chinese sport is stagnating? It sure feels that way.

This week saw the release of the nominations for the Laureus World Sports Awards and there were two Asians among the 30 athlete and team nominees.

Elsewhere on a list dominated by Europe and the US, there are only two Africans – Kenyan runners Joshua Cheptegei and Brigid Kosgei – with the Argentina men’s rugby team the sole South American representation.

Both of Asia’s nominees, Naomi Osaka and Kento Momota, are Japanese.
Japanese women's tennis player Naomi Osaka and men's badminton player Kento Momota are nominated for Laureus sports awards this year. Photos: AFP, Kyodo
Osaka – the highest-earning female athlete in the world and the new Australian Open champion – is up for Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year while Momota, who recovered from a career-threatening car crash in which his driver was killed, is up for Comeback of the Year.

Not that you would wish for anyone to be eligible for the comeback of the year, given what they have to come back from, but still the fact is that once more there are no Chinese athletes or teams.

Maybe that will change in 12 months time. This is an Olympic year after all and Tokyo 2020 is likely to see the Chinese medal factory push out a creditable amount of gold, silver and bronze. That though is an anomaly to the wider story.

Take Osaka – who won the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year in 2019 and was nominated for sportswoman last year – as an example.

The four-time slam winner was inspired by Asia’s first slam winner, China’s Li Na, and has surpassed her doubling Hall of Famer Li’s two slams.
Li Na of China kisses the trophy after defeating Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the women's singles final at the 2014 Australian Open. Photo: AP

Where are the Chinese players that Li inspired?

China sent five players to Melbourne for the women’s singles, more than any other Asian nation, including 30th seed Wang Qiang and 31st seed Zhang Shuai. Unseeded Zhu Lin got the furthest, reaching the second round where she lost to Elise Mertens.

By contrast, Taiwan’s Hsieh reached the quarter-final where she lost to Osaka, who went on to lift her second Australian Open crown.

Pick any sport and China is punching well below its considerable weight.

Football is the sport where China wants to catch up more than any other and the top down push for success was announced with much fanfare.

Chinese football was meant to have improved by now but targets for the five-year plan were missed. You could argue that the national team has improved but if it has it because of the controversial naturalisation policy.
Houston Rockets star Yao Ming of China reacts during a 2006 NBA game. Photo: Reuters
That was in the news again this week as Alex Teixeira is said to be considering playing for China weeks after the Brazilian striker’s proposed switch seemed off.
China could line up with half of its squad made up of naturalised footballers, most of whom qualified on residency not nationality.

That is entirely within the rules and has been used by other countries to great effect but lots of Chinese sports fans and some among governing bodies are against the policy, often suggesting it is a source of national shame.

China’s only national team member playing overseas cannot get in the team at Spanish second tier side Espanyol, though he is putting a brave face on it.

“I am delighted to see our team won consecutive games, even though I regrettably had to watch from the sidelines,” Wu told Xinhua this week. “The head coach is justified to maintain a consistent line-up to achieve consecutive wins. The longer the stability lasts, the more effective it is.”

Even when there appears hope for Chinese sports stars, the threat of despair is not far behind.

China's Zhou Guanyu celebrates his first Formula Two victory at Sochi in 2020. Photo: Instagram/Zhou Guanyu

Zhou Guanyu has edged toward becoming the first Chinese F1 driver but even that potential milestone comes with a caveat. That is not the critics who are a millstone that Zhou will have to carry but the bigger worry is that he will not lead an influx of Chinese talent.

That is what his Alpine Academy boss Mia Sharizman intimated earlier this month.

“It was a once in a generational project,” Sharizman said at their season launch. “We will never see another Chinese driver [with Zhou’s prospects] for the next 15-20 years, whether in Formula 3 or Formula 4 or Formula 2.”

Ouch. But why would F1 be any different than tennis, where no one has followed Li Na, or basketball, where there has been no heir to Yao Ming in the NBA?

Not to say that the major sports leagues are not still hoping for a Chinese star, just maybe they are no longer banking on it.

The mainland remains a market of great commercial interest and there are deals signed every week looking to exploit that – TikTok recently became Euro 2020’s fourth Chinese sponsor.

China is a thriving off the pitch as both sponsor and host of the biggest events, such as next year’s Winter Olympics, but it’s struggling on the pitch.

That’s why the biggest worry for the hosts at Beijing 2022 might not be a boycott or protests but the medal table.

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