China’s champion athletes help schools promote fitness, not endless study
- Former athletes are being recruited to help teach sports classes as schools reduce the emphasis on academic work
- Campaign to prioritise children’s health is aimed at capitalising on Beijing Winter Olympics, amid concerns over obesity, nearsightedness and stress
Sui was four years old when she was picked out by China’s state sports machine and began training as an elite athlete. She became world champion on the balance beam in 2011 and won silver at the London Olympics the following year.
But the pupils taking instruction from her in the bright, airy room in a Shanghai university harboured no such ambitions – Sui’s class was on basic physical fitness.
“People didn’t like sports before. They were under pressure to study and didn’t have time for exercise. But now everyone values sports,” Sui said after running her students through more stretches and balletic exercises.
The new state emphasis on exercise – school work has been reduced, and targets such as a two-hour minimum of daily physical activity have been introduced – has forced a scramble to find qualified teachers.