Sports is a portrayal of a national spirit and a microcosm of a country's strength. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Republic, I think of the four athletes mentioned by General Secretary Xi Jinping - Liu Changchun, Rong Guotuan, Xu Haifeng, and Zheng Qinwen. Their life experiences are like a microcosm of the times.
In 1932, 1959, 1984, and 2024, the four athletes achieved zero breakthroughs for China in the world arena, spanning nearly 100 years.
A hundred years of turmoil has changed the world. This is the century in which the Communist Party of China has gone through a glorious course, the century in which the Chinese nation has ushered in a century from standing up, becoming rich and becoming strong, and a century in which the Chinese Chinese nation has changed from "looking up to the world" to "looking at the world with an eye level".
Liu Changchun, a sprinter, is still heart-wrenching when he is lonely on the starting line. It was also a heart-wrenching time! Nine plains are swinging, a hundred years of land sinking, and the whole of China is at a loss and does not know where to go. In the second year of the "918" incident, when Liu Changchun, who was "tired from traveling and lacking practice", rushed to the 10th Olympic Games in Los Angeles, he was the only Chinese athlete at the entrance ceremony. There was no suspense, and the preliminaries were eliminated. How can a barren land carry the dreams of a nation? In the diary, Liu Changchun wrote unwillingly: "The top three in each event will hang the national flag of the winning country high...... Yu added infinite feelings to it. ”
Infinite feelings! However, the world has also sensed the desire of an ancient country that has been opened by strong ships and cannons after being closed off from the country, from the difficult trek of Chinese athletes to participate in the Olympic Games for the first time.
The stars are moving. Time has come to New China. Table tennis player Rong Guotuan, with an application eager to serve the motherland, came to the mainland from Hong Kong with a strong sense of innocence. In 1959, at the World Table Tennis Championships in Dortmund, he won the first world championship for China. After that, the members of the first team world championship team, led the team to win the first women's team world championship, and many firsts in Chinese sports are closely related to the name of Rong Guotuan.
It was a period of passionate construction. The people truly become the masters of their own destiny. The pride and ambition of changing the world, building factories and cultivating farmland, also swayed the "latest and most beautiful picture" in the sports field. Rong Guotuan, Chen Jingkai, Zheng Fengrong, Zhuang Zedong...... The names of many athletes have witnessed the high-spirited progress of the newborn New China. "Develop sports and enhance the people's physique", China's sports have begun to emerge on the world stage like a young republic.
History is vast. In 1978, the reform and opening up started a new long march of Chinese-style modernization. Change, rebirth, everything is vibrant. When the time entered 1984, at the 23rd Olympic Games in Los Angeles, shooting athlete Xu Haifeng fired a gunshot, achieving a breakthrough of zero Olympic gold medals for China and creating "a great day in the history of Chinese sports". This time, China sent a 353-member sports delegation and won 15 gold medals.
On the world stage, playing the "March of the Volunteers" is not only the meaning of winning the championship, but also the wish of hundreds of millions of people who have precipitated and looked forward to it for too long, and we are proving ourselves to the world. When it comes to sports during this period, the unforgettable Chinese women's volleyball team set an unprecedented "five consecutive championships" in the 80s of the last century, and "learning women's volleyball and revitalizing China" has also become "the strongest voice of the era of fighting for the rise of China". Embrace the world, catch up with the world, faster, faster, how eager China is to chase back the lost time and catch up with the distance that has fallen!
Time marches forward.
China has entered a new era. Approaching the center of the world stage, "closer than ever to the goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation". The thriving sport has also become a chapter in the history of revival. In the summer of 2024, China's Olympic athletes, those lovely and sunny youths, left sweat, tears, laughter, regrets and reluctance, as well as countless touches and excitement at the Paris Olympics...... This time, we have achieved the "best result in the history of participating in the Summer Olympics outside of China". Among them, tennis, a highly international sport, Zheng Qinwen won Asia's first Olympic tennis singles gold medal, which is full of gold. After the game, the testimonials full of family and country feelings were equally moving: "Playing for the country has given me more strength" and "National honor will always exceed the individual".
Walk with the country and live up to the time. The transformation of four historical scenes spanning nearly a hundred years outlines the changes in the fortunes of the country and the changes of youth walking with the country, like a symphony of fate of the times. As General Secretary Xi Jinping said: "The dream of each of us and the dream of becoming a sports power are closely linked to the Chinese dream." Without a strong motherland, how can we talk about personal dreams? ”
The general secretary also spoke emotionally about the "three questions of the Olympic Games" a hundred years ago.
"When will the Chinese be able to send athletes to the Olympics? When will Chinese athletes get an Olympic gold medal? When will China be able to host the Olympics? In China in 1908, "the national situation was critical, and it was impossible to live all day, and people with lofty ideals had many thoughts of saving the country." These three questions have a complete answer after a hundred years:
From Liu Changchun's "one-man Olympics" in Los Angeles in 1932 to today, we have sent 405 athletes to the Paris Summer Olympics;
From 1984, when Xu Haifeng won China's first Olympic gold medal, to this year's Summer Olympics, China's total number of gold medals exceeded 300;
Let's look at the answer to the third question. The 2008 Summer Olympics were "incomparable", and the 2022 Winter Olympics have engraved a new stroke in history, making Beijing the world's first "double Olympic city". The centennial Olympic dream, General Secretary Xi Jinping sighed: "This is a microcosm of the changes in a century. ”
Building dreams, chasing dreams, and realizing dreams, a China where dreams come true one after another. "How many times can life be beaten" and "If you don't fight at this time, when will you wait" is the motto of sports, and how can it not be a declaration of China's struggle? rose on the edge of "being expelled", started from "one poor and two white", and wrote a strong stroke of "the epic of struggle that touched the heavens and the earth". The ambition, backbone and confidence of being Chinese have been continuously enhanced. China's eyes on the gold medal are more calm, and China's eyes on the world are more confident. "After these years of development, China's post-70s, post-80s, post-90s, and post-00s have gone abroad and can already look at the world at a level, which is self-confidence." General Secretary Xi Jinping's words have won deep resonance in the vast land.
When the country is prosperous, sports are prosperous, and when the country is strong, sports are strong. There is an era, a spirit, a national strength, and a people's livelihood in sports.
At one time, the Chinese were called the "sick man of East Asia". The image of thin yellow muscles and weak wheezing is a portrayal of the times when the people are struggling to make a living.
In 1917, the magazine "New Youth" published an article entitled "The Study of Physical Education", and the author of "Twenty-Eight Painters" was the young Mao Zedong. "Civilization is its spirit, barbarism is its physique", shouting out the aspirations and dreams of Chinese young people in the age of poverty and weakness.
Over the past century, sports have a grander picture for the people and the country. "Chinese-style modernization and national health are closely linked, and national health requires national sports, and national sports can produce strong competitive sports." General Secretary Xi Jinping has a deep insight into the internal logic of sports, anchoring the modernization of all Chinese.
Today, national fitness has risen to become a national strategy, and a sports power and a healthy China share weal and woe. A few years ago, when bidding for the Winter Olympics, General Secretary Xi Jinping focused on "bringing 300 million people to participate in ice and snow sports". The international community also praised China's participation in ice and snow sports, "China won a 'gold medal' before the opening". When the general secretary inspected the preparations for the Winter Olympics in 2017, he also mentioned that China's average life expectancy has increased from 35 years in 1949 to 76.7 years in 2017. Today, that number is 78.6 years old, the highest in history.
A China that is changing with each passing day is forging ahead, forging ahead, and constantly refreshing history. "China has undergone tremendous changes, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process." General Secretary Xi Jinping's speech at the reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, beating the drum and urging the conscription.
The road to strengthening the country through sports illuminates the road to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Source: People's Daily
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