Honor used to be the primary drive for athletes in China. Of course there were material benefits such as housing and slightly higher salaries. But glorifying the motherland was the key motivation for sports professionals.
How things have changed. Now, Chinese Olympic gold medalists are rewarded gold, literally. A gold medalist will receive at least RMB3 million RMB (about USD 430,000) in monetary and housing benefits excluding the even more lucrative advertising gigs. If you are Liu Xiang, who wins a gold medal in an event that no Chinese has ever won, the official reward is RMB 1 million.
How does the reward work? Firstly, with multiple bureaucratic layers come with multiple rewards, from the central sports adminisatrion to the local government and local sports administration to even the neighborhood council. Property developer also jump at the chance to giftwrap free housing to athletes both as a reward and advertisement. The most quirky reward though is from a Hongkong tycoon whose fundation gives gold medalists 1 KG of gold and USD 50,000.
Of course, the pride and glory are still there. They just have a golden finish now.
6 Responses to “Gold for Gold: How China Rewards Athletes”
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About this blog
Hi, I am Jenny Zhu from ChinesePod.com. I bring you a slice of the Chinese language and culture in the daily podcast. But there is so much more than what a podcast has time for, so jennyzhu.com is a space of observation and reflection on the big, small and everything in between about China.
Hank Horkoff
August 15th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Not an easy life though:
art
August 15th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
as china’s economy gets better and prosperity trickles down to the countryside, i would think that many people will have the option of saying no to sports training for their kids at an early age and let the kids focus more on studies and pursuing other interests.
Jenny Zhu
August 15th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Hank,
NBC has done some really great coverage about Chinese society and life. Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw were interviewed on CCTV. Notwithstanding the limitations, they gave some thoughts to linger on.
Art,
The video might provide some answers. While affluent urban parents are reluctant to send their kids to sports schools, its still quite an appealing opportunity for the masses of rural population. Sports schools provide for the students, accommodation, food, small amount of subsidies and of course the chance of a successful sports career. It’s also worth noting that in those more demanding sports such as weightlifting, long distance running and gymnastics, almost all the athletes come from very modest background. I’ve seen many interviews where athletes say their biggest motivation is to provide a good life for their parents.
art
August 15th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
jenny,
i saw the video. i thought it’s tough for a kid to grow up living in sports school dormitories and rarely seeing their parents. but i also think many chinese are “genetically-ingrained” (ok it’s cultural) with filial piety and the great ability to 吃苦。so it’s a two-way street, parents hope their kids studying in sports school can one day will one day have their shining moment and have a rewarding life. children hope to repay their parents’ sacrifice through a successful sporting life.
but given the large number of kids in sports schools, only a tiny percentage will end up as world-class stars. so i hope that the prosperity in china’s coastal cities will spread through the interior and rural areas, so that these kids will have other options beside sports. not everyone can be liu xiang. and not every chinese world-class athletes become successful entrepreneurs like li ning, but i hope many will think like li ning and go on to have terrific post-sports careers.
David
August 18th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
It’s good to know that these gold medalists obtain something other than just a, most likely short-lived, fame. Not that there is anything wrong with that but, considering they have trained all their lives for such a feat, it’s good to know that they can get some monetary gain as well.
In the States, one could set up a training camp and use your name recognition to sustain it. Do you know of that happening anywhere in China, Jenny?
art
August 19th, 2008 at 7:11 am
i learned about a wall street journal story about gold-medalist Chen Yan Qing 陈艳青 from james fallow’s blog. her father is a farmer. both her parents still feel angst over sending her to sports school at a young age. they worry about her future after sports. 陈艳青 was good at math at a young age but also happened to run faster than boys. then she was discovered to have a strong arm. the rest is history. her father said: ” “A rich person would never let his child do this”
i am really glad she won her second olympic gold medal in beijing. her story can be read at http://online.wsj.com/article/.....26125.html. the article is accompanied with a very short video interview of Chen Yanqing’s father.