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| Thursday, 2 September 2004 |
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The challenge was thrown by none other than China, the hosts of the next summer Olympic Games in 2008. China almost shattered the American dominance at the Olympic Games winning 32 gold medals in Athens, just three behind leader of the medal standings the USA. Nevertheless, it was a strong warning to the Americans and the rest of the world. With what was displayed in Athens, one could imagine what is in store in the Chinese sporting armoury for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. With the favourable home conditions and the harvest of the ongoing sports development program, China is well set for a rich goldmine to edge out the USA and the rest of the world superpowers at the final medal standings of the Beijing Olympics. China's sports development plan is a good eye opener to not only for big names in the world sports arena, but also for developing countries like Sri Lanka. China had a clear vision when launching their current development program about four to five years ago. They intensified that when Beijing was picked as the host city of the XX1Xth Olympic Games and they have just started bearing fruits. The Government of the People's Republic of China has been the major force behind Beijing's success in sports. The state patronage in their sports as well as socioeconomic aspects has greatly produced results. A nationwide sports development program, involving nearly 180,000 prospective young sportsmen and women in over 20,000 regional centres is gradually turning out to be a fruitful exercise and would reach its peak in four years time. Sri Lanka could take a leaf out of China's success and make a long-tern strategy to come out of the current pathetic situation. Of course, we can not think of such a large scale exercise but with the best of our ability, Sri Lanka too could make a determined effort to produce an Olympic champion even in another decade. The first step towards that should be the immediate formation of national pools. This is the best time for that, after the forthcoming National Sports Festival, when the sportsmen and women are in their peak. Pick the best lot and give them a comprehensive training, uninterrupted. Give them the best possible facilities and residential training when necessary because it would be an investment for the future. Bad management has been the main cause for the current mess in Sri Lanka sports. We often make the same mistake of starting preparations for a tournament or a major sports event only just weeks ahead. That is a waste of money. In that case, it would be better to forget that event altogether. We must identify the major sports event on which Sri Lanka is going to concentrate, plan out a strategy and use the resources for early preparations. You can not expect a rich harvest without a proper investment. It is the quantity what you saw today that would come out as a harvest in future. Hence, it is time for us to start from the beginning. Target next year's South Asian Games to start with in a program that would lead us stability at Asian level in five years and the world circuit in a decade. It was good that the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Jeewan Kumaratunga and his Deputy Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, along with the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajaakse, were in Athens during the Olympic Games. The first hand information they brought home from the Greek capital could be used in planning out a strategy for Sri Lanka to stand up as a major sporting nation. Their patronage to find finances and get the whole mechanism going is very vital. There is enough hidden talent in the provinces. What is needed is to pick them early and groom carefully, as China did to make a high rise in world sport arena. We should believe in ourselves and work with a vision. |
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Produced by Lake House |
The Olympic Games in Athens ended, sounding a warning to the super
powers in world sports arena - the United States, Russia, Australia, Great
Britain, Germany and France.
