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7th National Games: Beijing/Sichuan 1993

2004-03-27 14:26 COC

    After suffering setbacks at the Seoul Olympic in 1988, the Chinese sports community had a better understanding of the dialectical relationship between its "National Games Strategy". This prompted the authorities concerned to work out a series of measures in the light of the requirements of the Olympic Games so as to achieve better results in the days to come.

    The Seventh National Games topped all the previous ones in scale and number of participants. Originally it was decided that Sichuan Province was to be the host of the Games. Later, in order to retrench and economize and make full use of available sports facilities instead of building new ones, the State Council decided to make Beijing the host city of major events, while some other events would be held in Sichuan and Qinhuangdao according to local conditions.

    On August 15, 1993, President Jaing Zemin declared the Seventh National Games open in Beijing. Li Peng, Qiao Shi and other state leaders attended the opening ceremony. The 32-day Games, held concurrently in Beijing (venue of 26 sports disciplines), Sichuan (15 disciplines) and Hebei's Qinhuangdao City (2 disciplines), drew 10,510 athletes in 45 teams from 30 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, army units and 14 local sports associations. Among the 43 sports events contested, 33 were Olympic events. The result was that four WRs, 34 ARs and 117 NRs were set.

    Significant breakthroughs were made in such major Olympic events as track & field, swimming and archery. In track & field, for example, there WRs were shattered, and the results in eight other events were better than the winning marks at the '93 World Athletic Championships. The women's distance running team of Liaoning Province, headed by coach Ma Junren and known as the "Ma 's Detachment", caused an even greater sensation than its triple win at the years World Athletic Championships in Stuttgart. At the Games, five of its runners surpassed the world records in the 1500m, 3000m and 10000m on 13 occasions. Among them Wang Junxia alone surpassed three WRs on four occasions. In swimming, a good number of promising young swimmers had emerged, which showed that this sport had bright prospects in China.

    The brilliant achievements of the Seventh National Games eloquently proved the correctness of the measures taken to put the stress on Olympic events. It motivated local sports units to take a more active part than before in promoting sports and to strive for more medals.

    Other measures included: limiting the number of entries in the non - Olympic events; awarding the medalists at the '92 Winter and Summer Olympics and the '93 World Athletic Championships, and the WR creators at the Seventh National Games; taking their medals and scores into account in the final medals tally and team standing. Among the 36 medal - winning teams, the Liaoning team from northeast China leapt to the first place.

    The organizing Committee of the Seventh National Games, with the experience gained from the '90 Beijing Asian Games, provided scientific and efficient organization which ensured the smooth progress of the Games.

    The Seventh National Games marked the beginning of a new chapter in China's sports history. It was also a watershed between two competition systems for the National Games. Therefore, the official events at the Games will basically be the same as those of the Olympic Games. Such unity of the "National Games Strategy" and the "Olympic Strategy" indicates that China is determined to intensify the implementation of its "Olympic Strategy", rally its athletes, and muster its limited material and financial resources to strive for the best possible results in its contention with the world's sports powers.

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