Chinese dominance is good for Americans "BEIJING - China is trying to dominate the world, to leave the U.S. in its wake, and as a red-blooded American, you must stand up and ask yourself: How great is this? Finally, your guys and gals are underdogs again. OK, not serious underdogs, like the Seychelles or Tuvalu. But compared to China, the U.S. is a little country trying to slay the giant. China has a one-party Communist government determined to stifle dissent, build an economic powerhouse and win more gold medals than anybody else. If you can't cheer against that, what can you cheer against? For U.S. fans, these Olympics have a retro feel. The Chinese sports machine (slogan: "From Fetus to Finalist in 20 Short Years!") seems a lot like the Russian factory of previous generations. China might win the gold and overall medal counts in these games, but the Chinese are also strong leaders in the controversy count. Those adorable little Chinese gymnasts are a little too little, aren't they? Bela Karolyi has complained that the Chinese are sending toddlers out onto the mat. He sounds just like U.S. swimmers in the 1970s and '80s complaining about the East Germans. For the American gymnasts, there is not much consolation in losing to a group of apparent pre-teens. But fans can turn off the TV set and feel an air of moral superiority. And that's not the kind of feeling you can get from cheering for your local NFL team. The greatest moment in U.S. Olympic history — the Miracle on Ice — was all about this kind of drama. Americans thought they were fighting for something. It was just a hockey game, but it didn't feel like a hockey game. It felt like taking down the Evil Empire. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. was often called the world's lone superpower. Put the political merits of that aside for a moment. It turned every American into a Yankees fan. The U.S. was the dominant Olympic country from 1992 to 2004, but some of the appeal disappeared. The American men's basketball team went from youthful powerhouse, taking down the older Russians (or getting screwed out of gold in 1972) to Dream Teamers to showboaters. The face of those U.S. Olympic teams was Marion Jones, and it was a chemically enhanced face. The face of the current Olympians is Michael Phelps. If ever an athlete had reason to talk trash, it was Phelps, but he has not come close. Meanwhile, French star Alain Bernard announced, "The 100 meters favorite, it's me," and said of his top 4x100 relay competition: "The Americans? We're going to smash them." The Americans won that relay in one of the most dramatic finishes in Olympic history. It was the second gold for Phelps, who has five and could well get eight. Phelps was a child swimming prodigy who is dominating these Games without raising a single eyebrow of doubt — as crazy as this sounds, he is supposed to be this good. Are some of the American medal-winners here doping? Of course. You would have to be the most naive person on the planet to argue the point. But denial and rationalization, for sports fans, can be useful things. And in this case, the Americans at least appear to be the good guys. The U.S. gymnastics system makes most reasonable parents wince. But next to the Chinese, the U.S. downright coddles its gymnasts. The U.S. men's basketball players have been hyped since they were teenagers. But unlike Yao Ming, they were not hyped (or controlled) by their own government. The Chinese machine has not nearly peaked. When you are trying to build a sports dynamo, it takes a generation. By London in 2012, the Chinese should be the clear dominant Olympic country — and by 2016, China will be the overwhelming medal favorite. Those 2016 Olympics could be held in Chicago. And if they are, then almost every major event will be about the home team trying to topple the mighty Chinese. The Soviet Union gave way to the Unified Team, which gave way to American dominance. Now, finally, we have a power that can galvanize Americans behind their athletes. Call China the Unifying Team" I think this guy is dead wrong. The Chinese have the gold lead now, but by the end of this olympics the US will dominate. While I think the Chinese can win the 'skill' competitions (diving, gymnasitcs, etc...), I don't think they will ever take us in track and field, swimming, basketball (of course). I think it has more to do with body type than anything.
Oh clearly, I really want China to win the medal count but once the USA hits the track and fields its over. Chinese athletes are really good skill wise but physically they are not at the level of the Americans just yet.
nah, the most important factor that will prevent China from being dominating in sports, is population. there are too many people in China, not enough room for sports facilities. so the real sports population is much much smaller than 1.3 billion. i remember when i was younger, the pool would be filled up. and there are plenty of Chinese with long arms and long legs. it's not so much about body types. different parts of China have different body types. i hope the centralized sports will loosen up soon. a lot athletes are so over trained and injured, by the time they reach their prime, they are done for already.
I don't know but the way we do things is so far different from China that it's sort of a moot point. Most Americans dream of playing in the NFL or the NBA because that's where the fame and money are. The Olympics are cool every four years but nobody really cares about these guys again until the next Olympics. China's system is apparently built to produce Olympic athletes from the age of three. The US doesn't really have a system, certainly not a government run one. It's the reason we suck at soccer. We have plenty of athletes to dominate in soccer but its just nobody cares until the World Cup comes around.
US system is fine. it's one of the best in the world. as for soccer, it really has something to do with culture. people just don't like it here as much. i think Chinese pretty much gave up on soccer. it's been going down hill every generation. basketball is so much more promising and fun. it's easier to find a basketball court than a soccer field too. basketball #1!
not very important i guess. but for some people, especially athletes, they get reward if they get gold. so it's probably very important for them. for the fans, more of a pride thing. it's a competition after all, you always want be the first. otherwise, why have this event at all.
I hope China beats us in medal count or gold medal count. The U.S. needs a rival. I think we're a better nation for it.
When we finally have a country to be our rival, our allies will come out. The world was a better place with the Soviet Union in some ways. I hope China can be a less hostile rival, and that appears to be the case, but a rival for sure. We need a rival because there's no sense of urgency in this country. We're falling behind in so many areas. There's no national competitive fire. We're becoming a nation of fat complacent uneducated dolts.
Let's not get carried away here. The US is still the most powerful country when it comes to sports. Mainly because our country is a melting pot of many races. China pretty much gets no medals in any track & field/swimming events. US get them by the dozens. And these two events are by far the easiest to pile up medal counts because they have so many events. So what if China gets all the diving medals, shooting medals, whatever. Micheal Phelps alone pretty much gets more gold than all those combined. And yes, the US will catch up towards the end. As China sucks in most team events and events where superb lower body is needed.
we're bad, its embrassing. We won an air rifle gold and people were dancing in India. Hopefully cricket will be an olympic sport again so we can at least be in contention for a medal every olympics.
I think India will win a medal in the doubles tennis event this year. Their pairing of Paes/Bhupathi have been solid for a long time whenever they actually play together. Although seventh seeded, methinks they are much better than that actually.
well we kick ass in the olympics because we have people from different ethnic backgrounds and such, where most other countries are quite homogenous racial wise. certain races are always better at certain sports, thus diversity works well for us. but china have such a huge population, genetic variations can still be found, even if the percentage is low, the pool is enormous thus they will always have some athletes who can dominate sports traditionally not well performed by east asians.
India is 30 years behind China in a few ways still - one of those ways is in athletics. The gov't hasn't done very much to encourage or foster athletes - in fact it's done pretty much nothing. There's very little sponsorship, training facilities, or other infrastructure, there's no programs and national push. I think though winning a few medals can make a difference and going forward the number of medals will increase, albeit gradually.
