11th National Games of the People's Republic of China

11th National Games of the People's Republic of China
11th National Games of PR China
11th National Games of PR China
Host Shandong
Motto Harmonious China
Everybody's Games
Teams participating 46
Athletes participating 10,991
Events 33 sports
Opening ceremony October 16, 2009
Closing ceremony October 28, 2009
Officially opened by Hu Jintao (President)
Officially closed by Wen Jiabao (Premier)
Stadium Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium

The 11th National Games of the People's Republic of China was held in various cities in Shandong from October 16 to October 28, 2009. Represented were 33 sports, 43 disciplines and 362 events, including 4 winter sports which were held in Shenyang, Changchun and Qingdao between January and April 2009.

In all, a total of 1241 medals were awarded. The host province of Shandong came first on the medals table with 63 gold, 40 silver and 43 bronze. The games saw the triumphant return from injury for Olympic 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang. Swimmer Liu Zige also broke the world record in the women's 200 metres butterfly, taking 2 seconds off from the previous record.

The 11th National Games was labelled by some as "China's Olympics", which is reflective of growing significance of the National Games in China.

Contents

Background

Following the 9th National Games in 2001, officials decided to scrap the decades-old convention of rotating the host duties between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. The State Council of the People's Republic of China, decided that a bidding process would decide the host and any province, municipality and autonomous region was eligible to apply. In 2005, Shandong won the right to host the 11th National Games being the only applicant province with the permission of State Council of the People's Republic of China and the State General Administration of Sports.

Development and preparation

Shandong Airlines Boeing 737-800 in a livery promoting the Games.

Marketing

The logo for the games was designed to embody the concept of "Harmonious China, Energetic Shandong" (和谐中华, 活力山东). The logo is derived from the geometric patterns on artifacts of the Warring States Period and the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Jinan, Shandong. This represents the traditional folk culture of Shandong. The logo also depicts an abstract image of 11 athletes in motion which symbolises the 11th National Games. It is composed of the colours red, black, yellow, green and blue which are the colours of the Olympic rings and refer to the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The final logo was selected from 3040 entries in a public competition launched in 2007 across mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The mascot for the games was a cartoon character called "Taishan Boy" (泰山童子）). It alludes the majestic stone of the Shandong's Mount Taishan. The mascot, dressed in a red shirt and white shorts, is an athletic figure giving the thumbs-up. According to the designer said, the character symbolizes "the spirit of life", "health and longevity" and "the enthusiasm and fighting spirit of the host".

Broadcasting

The 11th National Games were broadcast both on CCTV-1 and CCTV-5, as well as on the local Shandong Television station.

Torch relay

The torch of the 12th National Games, first unveiled on April 28, 2009, is based on the concept of ruyi (如意), a traditional Chinese ceremonial scepter. The torch is 69 cm long. It is designed to resemble the ruyi with gold and silver being the colour theme. At the top, the golden willow pattern is combined with the grey ruyi stripes. The mouth of the torch is shaped like the lotus, which is the city flower of Jinan. Also, the main venue for the games, the Jinan Olympic Sports Center, is also known as Donghe Xiliu (East Willow, West Lotus) due to its distinctive architecture.

Mirroring the 2008 Olympic Games, a torch relay began on August 1, 2009 at Mount Taishan, a cultural site with a tradition of spiritual pilgrimages. The flame was lit in a sun ray ceremony by Beijing Olympics gold medalists archer Zhang Juanjuan and diver Wang Feng. On August 16, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Wu Bangguo received the torch at the Great Hall of the People which officially marked the start of the relay. The torch was then carried on a two-month relay around the China, including through the major centres of Shandong.

The route of the torch relay was (in chronological order): Mount Taishan, Shandong → Beijing → Tianjin → Shijiazhuang, Hebei → Shenyang, Liaoning → Changchun, Jilin → Harbin, Heilongjiang → Hohhot, Inner Mongolia → Taiyuan, Shandong → Xi'an, Shaanxi → Lanzhou, Gansu → Xining, Qinghai → Ürümqi, Xinjiang → Lhasa, Tibet → Kunming, Yunnan → Chengdu, Sichuan → Chongqing → Guiyang, Guizhou → Nanning, Guangxi → Changsha, Hunan → Zhengzhou, Henan → Hefei, Anhui → Nanchang, Jiangxi → Guangzhou, Guangdong → Haikou, Hainan → Macau → Hong Kong → Fuzhou, Fujian → Hangzhou, Zhejiang → Shanghai → Nanjing, Jiangsu.

The Shandong leg included the following cities (in chronological order): Qingdao → Weihai → Yantai → Weifang → Rizhao → Linyi → Zaozhuang → Jining → Heze → Liaocheng → Dezhou → Binzhou → Dongying → Zibo → Laiwu → Tai'an → Jinan.

The Games

Opening ceremony

Main article: Opening Ceremony of the 11th National Games of the People's Republic of China
The Games cauldron is lit.

The Chinese President, Hu Jintao, started the official opening ceremony on October 16, which featured an extensive firework display and a large scale music and dance performance at the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium, nicknamed Xiliu (西柳）, literally "West Willow", due to its resemblance to the city tree, the Chinese willow.[1] IOC President Jacques Rogge and a dozen IOC members also attended the ceremony. Liu Peng, who had headed the organising committee for the 2008 Beijing Olympics,[2] stressed the role the Games played in improving the standard of sport in China, and also its importance in promoting fitness as a whole. Following this, the torch was brought into the stadium and the cauldron was lit, signalling the climax of the opening ceremony.[1]

Venues

The main venues for the games are located in Jinan. The Jinan Olympic Sports Center precinct is home to the main stadium, Jinan Olympic Sports Center Stadium as well as the indoor stadium, aquatic center and tennis center. Many secondary venues were located in regional centers scattered across Shandong, including in Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai.

Sports

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony was held on October 16, 2009 in the Jinan Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. It was attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao who officially closed the proceedings.

Events included:

  • Government officials, including Wen Jiabao, and other dignitaries enter.
  • Athletes enter.
  • Song "You Peng Zi Yuan Fang Lai" (有朋自远方来, literally: "Friends from Afar"). Sung by Lian Hua and Wang Li
  • Cui Dalin awards athlete Liu Song.
  • Wen Jiabao closes the games.
  • Artistic performances.
    • Section 1: Memory of Springwater.
    • Section 2: Passion of the Race Track.
  • Cauldron is extinguished.
  • Artistic performances continued.
    • Section 3: Starry Sky.

Medal table

  The host region is highlighted in lavender blue
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Shandong 63 44 46 153
2 PLA 49 39 41 129
3 Jiangsu 48.5 37 36 121.5
4 Guangdong 45 45.5 39.5 130
5 Shanghai 41 34 46.5 121.5
6 Beijing 30 20 29 79
7 Heilongjiang 23.5 23 18.5 65
8 Tianjin 23 14 15.5 52.5
9 Fujian 19 11 21 51
10 Hunan 18 10.5 6 34.5
11 Zhejiang 15.5 13.5 11 40
12 Sichuan 15.5 7 18.5 41
Total 551 476 530 1557

Participation

With a total of 10,991 athletes from 46 delegations, the event was the largest in the Games' history.[1] Among the 46 delegations were 4 municipalities, 22 provincial teams and 5 autonomous regions. Further to this, the People's Liberation Army sent a team, and fourteen sports association teams were entered (generally associations from specific industry groupings or large organisations).[3]

Concerns and controversies

Doping

In order to qualify for the Games, a random selection of 30–50% of the athletes in the track and field events had to pass an exam,[4] which tested knowledge of anti-doping policy, the damage associated with drug use, and methods of self-protection from banned substances. The director of the Chinese Athletics Association, Du Zhaocai, noted that athletes who had previously been banned for failing drugs tests would not be allowed to compete at the Games. This measure was partly a reaction to the positive test of gold medallist Sun Yingjie at the 2005 Games, which had caused bad publicity for the event.[5] Guo Linna, a rower from Henan, was the first athlete to be disqualified after testing positive for 19-norandrostenedione, and shooter Li Jie from Inner Mongolia tested positive for the banned drug propranolol a few days later.[6] Women's 100 metres gold medallist Wang Jing tested positive for epitestosterone and was disqualified from the Games.[7]

Alleged match fixing

Despite a number of new measures to prevent corruption or abuse of the judging system, one of the judges in the diving competition accused a fellow judge of pre-arranging results. However, an investigation by the State General Administration of Sports detected no signs of foul play.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c 11th Chinese National Games opens in Jinan. Xinhua News Agency (2009-10-17). Retrieved on 2009-10-21.
  2. ^ Executive Board - Liu Peng. Beijing 2008. Retrieved on 2009-10-21.
  3. ^ What’s with China’s National Games?. China Sports Review (2009-10-14). Retrieved on 2009-10-22.
  4. ^ a b Tan, Jingjing (2009-10-18). Doping, match fixing challenge China's efforts to ensure clean National Games. Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved on 2009-10-24.
  5. ^ Chinese athletes must pass exam to compete at National Games. Xinhua News Agency (2009-10-22). Retrieved on 2009-10-24.
  6. ^ Chao, Xiao (2009-10-22). China reports second doping case at National Games. Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved on 2009-10-24.
  7. ^ China sprinter fails doping test at National Games. Yahoo/AFP (2009-10-26). Retrieved on 2009-10-26.

External links

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