Matthew Forney, a former Beijing bureau chief for Time, writes in the New York Times:
Like the Soviet Union at the height of the cold war, China is looking to make a statement by winning more Summer Olympic gold medals than the United States. Both countries will doubtless honor the systems that they say produce victories — Chinese authoritarianism versus American liberty.
But China has added an interesting twist to an old cold war story. Unlike in the Soviet Union, capitalism has infiltrated nearly all aspects of Chinese life — except sports. Chinese compete like Adam Smith in the marketplace but like Vladimir Lenin in the arena.
As a result, the way Chinese experience sports is vastly different from the way that Americans do. We all know about Yao Ming and maybe a few others with colossal shoe contracts to match their stardom. But for the most part, Chinese athletes perform best in sports that few Chinese care about. This is a country without private guns but with crack sharpshooters. With few public pools but the best divers. Fencing, canoeing, women’s softball — China excels at these despite the fact that very few Chinese show an interest in them.
Read also: These Games are all about China by Michael Rosenberg.
