Chinese President Jiang Zemin declared open the 15-day Ninth
National Games in a dynamic and colorful ceremony in the brand-new
Guangdong Olympic Stadium Sunday evening.
The games, China's first major sporting event in the new century,
added joy and excitement to the country, which in recent months has
witnessed such events as Beijing's successful Olympic bid for
hosting the 2008 Games,
the success of the 21st
World University Games in the Chinese capital and the
long-awaited qualification by China's national soccer team for the
2002 World Cup finals.
Among those present at the opening ceremony were Li Lanqing,
Vice-premier of the State Council, Yuan Weimin, Minister of the
State General Administration of Sports and President of the
National Games Organizing Committee, and Jacques Rogge from
Belgium, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), some other IOC members
including former president of the International Federation of
Football Associations (FIFA)
Joao Havelange and heads of some foreign sports delegations invited
for the occasion.
The Chinese president met with the guests prior to the opening
ceremony.
When addressing a capacity crowd in the modern 80,000-seat stadium
built for the quadrennial games, Yuan said that the national games
opened in the new century and at a time when China, with impressive
economic achievements in recent years, had ushered in a new stage
in sports development.
Yuan, who is also President of the Chinese Olympic Committee,
called for efforts to turn these games a demonstration of true
sportsmanship and moral of Chinese people and athletes as well as a
prelude to an expectedly successful 2008 Olympic Games in
Beijing.
China's former Olympic or national games champions formed an
impressive nine-member leading group to guide the march-in of
participating delegations. They were weightlifter Chen Jingkai,
high jumper Zheng Fengrong, swimmer Yang Wenyi, volley-baller Sun
Jinfang badminton player Tang Xianhu, gymnast Li Ning, table tennis
player Lu Lin, shooter Zhang Shan and Lee Lai Shan, an Olympic
champion and former world champion windsurfer from the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region (SAR).
President Jiang lit the games premier torch at a grand ceremony
held outside the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing two
months ago. The torches carried by representatives from all
participating delegations were then lit at the Beijing ceremony to
start a 52-day nationwide torch relay. A record participation of
some 20 million people took part in the historic relay.
China's Olympic champions shooter Xu Haifeng, judoka Zhuang
Xiaoyan, gymnast Li Xiaoshuang and weightlifter Chen Xiaomin ran a
relayed honor lap inside the Olympic Stadium for the torch relay.
The games flame on a specially-designed cauldron was lit, with a
signal sent by a laser igniter lit by Chen, the final torch
runner.
A
dynamic and vigorous mass artistic and sports performance followed
featured such sectors as team gymnastic show, traditional Chinese
lion dance as well pop and folk song and dance. Over 20,000
performers mainly consisted of school students and soldiers
displayed their outburst of joy when the new century had been
ushered in.
Some 20,000 Participants and 45 Delegations participating in the
15-day games are some 20,000 athletes, coaches and officials of 45
delegations from various provinces, municipalities, autonomous
regions, the People's Liberation Army, the Xinjiang Production and
Construction Corps and sports associations of such trades as
railways, coal mining, forestry, finance and banking and aviation,
and representatives of media organizations from home and
abroad.
On
the games program are the finals of 30 sports and 345 events, with
a total of 358 gold medals on offer. Except for traditional Chinese
martial arts Wushu, all are Olympic sports.
Athletes from the Macao SAR, which was established in December of
1999, are taking part in their first ever national games while
those from the Hong Kong SAR are competing for the second time.
In
a much welcomed first appearance by Hong Kong athletes at the
national games in Shanghai four years ago, Wong Kam Po, 24, won
Hong Kong's first ever national games title in a road cycling
event.
Athletes from the Hong Kong and Macao SARs had been allowed to skip
the preliminaries and compete in most of the finals of the national
games.
Finals of some sports and events of the games including those of
the winter sports had been held prior to the games' official
opening, to suit for international competitions.
And this year's games venues spread all over the province, with15
cities hosting competitions, for the first time in games history.
The coastal city of Shantou, 480 km east of Guangzhou, hosts table
tennis and diving events.
Olympic medal winners at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games and last
year's summer Games in Sydney shall be counted for in this year's
national games medal table for the athletes' respective native
delegations.
(People’s
Daily November 12, 2001)