94 gold medals, 220 podiums… why is China strong? – Independence

2024-09-08 17:58:12

As for two years, China has broken the Paralympic medal standings. Management which can be explained by the effective search policy and the large resources invested in the sport.

Wednesday September 4, mid-morning, in the groups on the road in Clichy-sous-Bois, we were twiddling our little thumb while waiting for the runners to do it. To pass the time, the official of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee suggests that we play his favorite game this season: find the exact number of gold medals for China. A sort of fair price Paralympic version. “Be careful, you have to give an answer quickly, because maybe in a minute they will have three or four more,” he said ironically. At that time, the Chinese had “only” 59 ​​titles. This Sunday evening, they will leave Paris with 94 gold medals. That is more than Great Britain (49) and the United States (36) in total, although it is the second and third country in the medal position, and ahead of the French 19 titles.

This undivided reign of terror is not new. Since Athens in 2004, China has consistently broken the competition at the Paralympic Games. Of course, he also played leading roles in the Olympics, but not with much margin over his competitors. In all sports, its representatives bring home trophies. In Paris, a Chinese climbed on top of the box in 19 of the 22 Paralympic levels, including raids in sports (59 medals including 21 gold), swimming (54 medals including 22 gold), table tennis (Marks 24 medals including 11 in gold) or practically (19 medals including 10 in gold). A few days ago, in the stands of the Défense Arena, a colleague said thoughtfully: “Swimmer is a bit boring. We hear Chinese music more than we see rivers in the water. “

Phrases that encourage you to overcome yourself for your country

However, it is not always like this. In the 90s, China was another Paralympic swimmer. In 1992, in Barcelona, ​​he finished only thirteenth (with 11 gold medals), before doing better in 1996 in Atlanta (ninth with 16 titles). And then, Beijing began to dream of hosting the Games, both Olympic and Paralympic. The country won its case in 2001 and had seven years to prepare to welcome, in the summer of 2008, the fame of the world sport. From then on, having the best athletes in the world became a practical, soft power issue. It would be disrespectful in the eyes of Chinese leaders not to shine at home, under the gaze of the media from around the world. Therefore, the State pulls out all the stops to find athletes, train them and let them perform.

In 2007, a year before the Home Games, a large sports center was built north of Beijing. A sort of Chinese-style National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (Insep), but only intended for para-sports. It extends over 23 hectares, explain Global who was able to visit recently, which is true, from afar, “The largest training center for elite disabled athletes in the world”. We see red flags with yellow stars everywhere, and on the walls slogans telling athletes to overcome themselves for their country.

The training center does not work alone. Across the country, other, smaller groups see athletes with disabilities passing through the fold and are responsible for finding medal winners. The population of the world’s largest country is rich: it is estimated that there are around 85 million Chinese with disabilities. “We invite people who aspire to practice, we find them and the Chinese machine is on its wayexplain Inside group professor researcher Arnaud Waquet, specialized in the social sciences of sport. We chose a large group of 1000 people, we quickly reduced it to 100, 50 and then 10 people that we will win. It’s a pyramid scheme. “

“Industry center for elite athletes”

China also creates a mystery around the Paralympic athletes: most of them leave the country, compete only in mandatory competitions to qualify for the Games and do not respond to questions from the international press. Since it often happens that we discover a Chinese who comes out of nowhere or almost nowhere and who explodes the competition during a Paralympiad. Maxime Valet disappeared, of the City of Paris as soon as he entered the fight in foil and sabre, complained: “As the International Federation does not force them to compete, they are not in a bad position. But they are so high that they don’t care. “

While other countries are also investing in parasport, no one has sold the system as far as China. And it should be like this for a few more years. “Unless a country is prepared to re-establish the kind of industrialization of high-level athletes and investment resources at that level and beyond – or China decides that it no longer wants to do so -, will continue to dominate for many decades to come.”this at CNN British researcher Ian Brittain, specializing in Paralympic sport.

However, Beijing is far from being innocent when it comes to the inclusion of people with disabilities in society. In 2013, report of Human Rights Watch said about the education system which taught them a lot. Result: 28% of children with disabilities do not have access to education and more than 40% of adults are illiterate. The rates are well above the national averages. “Part of the population is completely corrupt. In schools, people with disabilities are pushed aside. They have little or no access to education and services. We hide them. They are never in the process of inclusion, said, still have groupArnaud Waquet. In recent years, new laws have been enacted to combat this discrimination. But China is starting from afar.