A Xinhua News Agency reporter, Yang Ming, has triggered a heated online debate by saying that China should stop going for gold medals from the next big sports event and instead select amateurs from colleges and universities to represent the country to spread health awareness among its people, says an article in Xinhua Daily Telegraph. Excerpts:

China took less than 20 years to become the highest gold medal winner at the Olympic Games, thanks to its nationwide sports program. But we have to admit that those gold medals have not made us a physically fit nation.

The focus on medals at big sports events has not helped develop sports on a mass level. A good or bad performance at a big sports event does not reflect the overall development of sports in a country. Being a sports power at big events does not necessarily mean that China is a country of physically fit people adept at playing a wide range of games.

The rapid increase in the number of gold medals won by China at the Olympics and other big sports events proves that we are quite good at competitive sports. But it does not prove that we are good at sports at the mass level.

Some games like table tennis and badminton do not require huge space or money to play. So we are happy playing indoor games without paying much attention to outdoor games.

The purpose of sports is to improve the physical fitness of all the people. So we should start a nationwide fitness campaign alongside the program to develop competitive sports to ensure mass physical fitness.