As Olympics end, doubts nag a so-strong China

By Andreas Landwehr

Beijing (dpa) - All that glisters is not gold. China may have overtaken the USA and established itself as a sporting superpower with its record Olympic haul, but it harbours nagging doubts about itself. 

Nothing shows this more clearly than the sense of mourning among China's 1.3 billion people over the way national hurdling hero Liu Xiang was forced out of competition by injury. 

All hopes had been pinned on Liu with an intensity that no foreigner would begin to understand. He was their man to challenge the dominance of the Europeans and Americans in track and field. 

"I'd rather have not topped the medal table and instead seen him win in a field where the West is so strong," said one Chinese sport expert, summing up the feeling of millions. 

China is a country of contradictions. On the one hand, it is happy to have shaken off the "sick man of Asia" image that has dogged it since its humiliation by the imperial powers in the 19th Century. On the other, it still does not quite believe its own strength. 

The communist leadership continues to vaunt the XXIX Olympic Games as a "milestone of the way to the great resurgence of the Chinese nation". 

In true old communist tradition, it congratulates itself on hosting the "successful Games", at the same time forestalling growing criticism by proclaiming: "We have fulfilled the confidence the world put in us." 

The world, so the proclamation continues, "made the right decision" in awarding China the Games. But it is a judgement that only covers the blemishes beneath the golden polish. 

Promises were not kept, the human rights situation did not improve as China pledged it would, and the obsession with being in control stifled attempts to give a party atmosphere to the Games. 

The avalanche of gold also disguised the fact that China is not a sporting nation and that its successes were achieved through massive state funding as used to be the case in the former Soviet bloc. 

Another contradiction is the fact the world's biggest developing nation was able to stage the most expensive Games in the history of the Olympic movement. 

The chronic poverty that is almost everywhere was not to be seen inside the "Olympic bubble" - neither the beggars nor the hordes of poorly paid itinerant workers who built the spectacular sporting venues. 

Never before was the Chinese capital so clean and spruced up. But that was due to emergency action rather than a legacy of the Olympics. Once the athletes leave the chimneys will resume belching smoke and car fumes will again make the air barely breathable. 

Despite the criticism, China also deserves respect. The genuine friendliness of the 1.5 million volunteer helpers enabled the country to present a new face to the world. 

Mobilizing all the powers at its disposal in the vast nation, China was able to give the athletes a superbly organized Games - something only possible in an authoritarian state. 

The country also learned a lot, according to Li Ning, the former gymnast who lit the Olympic flame at the spectacular opening ceremony on August 8. 

"We always have lots of good ideas but we have to learn how to respect the international way of doing things," he was quoted as saying in the newspaper Caijing. 

There have also been warnings for the need to come down to earth after the spectacular success in topping the gold medals table. 

"That does not prove that our strength as a nation, our scientific achievement or our sporting concept makes us better than the United States or Europe," said the newspaper Zhongguo Qingnianbao. 

Nobody would subscribe "to such an illusion," said the journal, which has close links to party leader Hu Jintao. 

On the sporting front, China "will again suffer major setbacks in the future," said Helmut Digel, an executive member of the International Amateur Athletics Federation. 

The German China expert believes the country is already encountering problems in top-level sport similar to those experienced in Germany and other nations. 

"Social gain will not serve as motivation for much longer," he said. "China will continue to remain one of the top three sporting nations, but will not repeat the success of Beijing at the London Games in 2012."
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