Media Room
Press ReleasesMay 20, 2005
China and Canada:
Cooperation and Competition
Cooperation and Competition
On June 14, 2005 track and field athletes representing Canada and the People's Republic of China will compete in the inaugural Pacific World Cup, presented by Paystone.com., as part of the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic at Burnaby's Swangard Stadium.
This historic commitment by the Athletic Association of the People's Republic of China marks another milestone for the annual Jerome meet which has, since 1983, showcased some of the world's top track and field athletes and given Canadian competitors a chance to compete against the world's best on home turf.
China's commitment to send an athletics delegation to the 2005 Jerome meet comes on the heels of an April 2005 bilateral agreement signed by the Canadian and Chinese Olympic Committees in Beijing. The agreement provides Canadian athletes with early access to training and acclimatization sites leading up to the 2008 Olympics while offering Chinese athletes reciprocal opportunities to prepare in Canada leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.
Clearly this cooperative venture will benefit both nations as they prepare to welcome the world in 2008 and 2010, just as the Jerome meet serves as a competitive opportunity for athletes representing both countries to gain experience and to improve their performances in elite competition.
Four years ago Canada and China were embroiled in competition of a related, yet different, sort as Toronto and Beijing were among the finalist cities battling for the right to play host to the 2008 Summer Olympics. In July 2001 Beijing won the right to host the Games with 56 votes on the second ballot, with Toronto earning 22, Paris 18 and Istanbul 9. It was, perhaps, a fitting decision given that in 1993 Australia defeated China by a scant two votes in the competition to play host to the 2000 Summer Olympics.
It is with the 2008 Summer Olympics in mind that China has committed to sending a contingent to the June 14 Jerome meet. Every Olympic host nation strives to field the best, most competitive, team of athletes possible and it is a source of enormous pride when home country athletes succeed on home ground. International competitive opportunities help to develop athletes by enabling them to gain experience not only in competition but in dealing with the pressures and distractions at elite events.
If the 2004 Games in Athens are any indication, it appears China may be well on its way to a most successful home showing in 2008. The United States topped the gold medal and over-all standings in Athens with 35 gold and a 103-medal total. China was runner-up in the gold department with 32 and third over-all with 63 medals, behind Russia's total of 92 medals.
In Sydney four years earlier China took third in the rankings with 28 gold, plus 16 silver and 15 bronze medals.
China was represented by one athlete back at the 1932 Games in Los Angeles but the country has emerged as a world sport power since 1884, where free pistol shooter Xu Haifeng became the first athlete from the People's Republic of China to win an Olympic gold medal at those Summer Olympics, also in Los Angeles. His gold was also the first medal awarded at those Games. In Los Angeles,1984, Chinese athletes finished fourth over-all with 15 gold, eight silver and nine bronze medals.
Fast forward to Athens 2004 and the men's 110-metre-hurdles final. Twenty-one-year-old hurdler Liu Xiang won the race in 12.91 seconds, equaling the world record set by Britain's Colin Jackson back in 1993. And while Chinese athletes have enjoyed considerable success in many Olympic sports, the effort by Liu Xiang was historic in that he became the first Chinese male athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field.
One thing is sure, Liu may have been the first but he certainly won't be the last. The Chinese stars of 2008 are already preparing for the Games of their lives. And some of them might just be on the Swangard Stadium track on June 14.
