Tag Archives: Yao Ming

Olympics, Other, Podcast

Olympic Sailing Star Meets Peng Shuai in Shanghai

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Happy New Year to all my readers and thanks for following, listening and reading throughout 2021. The 2022 Beijing Olympics begin exactly one month from today, and the Closed Loop Management System (aka the Olympic bubble) went into operation this morning.

This week on the China Sports Insider Podcast we spoke to Chinese Olympic sailing champion Xu Lijia, who won gold in the laser division at the 2012 Olympics in London, where she also carried the flag for China at the Closing Ceremony. She had some fascinating things to say about her career and about China’s state-run sports system in general. She was also pictured in Shanghai recently alongside Yao Ming, table tennis champ Wang Liqin, and people’s favorite Peng Shuai in what was clearly a staged photo shoot. I asked her about that and for her thoughts on Peng in what has become our most listened podcast so far! Full blurb below:

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Olympics

China Tasked with Olympic Rebound, as COVID Dominates Tokyo Build-up

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In this week’s Olympic round-up:

  • IOC President calls Japanese people “Chinese”
  • China’s largest ever delegation to “go all out”, as uniforms ridiculed
  • COVID fears hamper Team China build-up in Tokyo
  • China predicted to finish second in medal table
  • Beijing 2022 preparations “on track”, but outlook remains uncertain
  • The latest Beijing Olympics boycott talk
  • All the other features and stories of interest
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Olympics

Memories of the 2008 Beijing Olympics – and what happened next

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Ten years ago tonight, I had the privilege of witnessing one of the most dominant Olympic performances of our time, as Usain Bolt ran 9.69 in the men’s 100m final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But I nearly missed the race entirely – and much has changed in China’s sports scene over the ensuing decade.

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General

The future direction of China’s sports policy

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Politics trumps everything in China, so when all the top leaders gather in Beijing for their annual meetings, it’s worth paying attention. Sports is not – it must be stressed – a top priority at the “Two Sessions” or Lianghui, but it does get a mention every now and then. Below are the relevant moments from the week’s major speeches, plus some attempts to read the tea leaves. 

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Basketball, Column, Football

CSL TV rights deal resolved, 3×3 takes hold and the NBA’s New Year plans in China

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In addition to my SupChina column, I’ve also been filing a weekly China Digest for SportBusiness over the past year. Here’s a summary of what you can find in this week’s version: 

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General

10 questions on the Chinese sports industry

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US-based sports marketing guru Joe Favorito reached out and asked me to do a Q&A for his site on various aspects of the Chinese sports industry. Given that his weekly industry newsletter is distributed to well over 30,000 people, I was more than happy to oblige. Joe published the results in two parts – here and here – which are reprinted below. 

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Basketball

Sports stars are buying teams – even in China

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Increasingly in the sports world, former – and even current – sports stars are taking ownership stakes in franchises. Could China be part of this growing trend? 

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Basketball

Why the Mavs have struck gold in China

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In a marketing stroke of genius, the Dallas Mavericks are asking their Chinese fans to choose a new (Chinese) name for the team. Here’s why having a good Chinese name for your brand, product or even sport can be the crucial difference between standing out in the world’s largest market or going unnoticed. 

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Basketball

Yao Ming set to play biggest game of his life

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Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming may be best known for his on-court exploits, but he’s now facing a challenge of a very different sort as he looks to reform Chinese basketball. In a Chinese sports version of Bannon vs. Kushner, the big man is battling “the establishment” in order to gain influence behind the scenes. But the obstacles he’s facing may be so entrenched that the entire sports industry in China is affected.

Rumors started to circle earlier this year that Yao Ming would be appointed as the new head of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), and despite resistance in certain quarters – including this editorial from state-run news agency Xinhua which called him too young and too inexperienced [link in Chinese] – he seemed the obvious candidate.

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