Chinese Dominance Take 2!

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I got bored. Original content at http://matthetherington.blogspot.com and don't forget to follow me on facebook or twitter, follow the navigation tabs on the homepage.

What makes the Chinese so Dominant? Take 2: The Professionals Speak

Here is a list of quotes from my interviews with international players about why the Chinese continue time and time again to win international titles, top the rankings and remain the dominant force in world table tennis.


Olympics+ping+pong+gold.jpg

China dominates at the 2008 Beijing Games
Image Courtesy of Xinhua News




'Because they start very young and they have very good organisation for this sport. They work a lot for this and the coaches are top.'
Gionis Panagiotis - Greek National Mens Team


'Simply, this is the national sport in the biggest country in the World (population).'
Jean Michel Saive - 1994 European Champion and Former World Number 1


'They are very athletic, unbelievable power in their strokes and mentally, they are very strong'
Patrick Franziska - 2010 European Youth Champion


'Chinese work harder, are more professional, more organised, also they have many more players. Most of the top Europeans live far away from each other, we should practice more together like the Chinese do, this seems to work for them and is something we lack.'
Vladimir Samsonov - 3 Time World Cup Winner and Former World Number 1


They have: traditions, good system, good history, knowledge and money. Combine this with a BIG number of players. The status of table tennis is high in China. Parents are dreaming of having future champions. All these things make the competition inside the country very hard. This drives the level of the sport up!!'
Peter Karlsson - Swedish National Coach and 2000 European Champion

'Imagine creating the best athlete and then re-producing that athlete over and over again. And only modifying the system based on the next perfect athlete. The Chinese use this system right across as many locations in the country and reproduce the system in different tiers.'
Simon Gerada - 2000 Oceania Champion

'Numbers and dedication. If you've got millions of people who are desperate enough to do whatever they can to succeed then you've got a winning recipe. Most other countries rely on a handful of players who are serious enough to do what it takes.'
William Henzell - 3 Time Oceania Champion

These are things which are being raised time and time again. The sooner the rest of the world can move towards this seemingly flawless system of producing World Class players the better. I think the population issue is a big advantage for China, but imagine if a country like the United States adopted a training programme like the Chinese. Unfortunately with Table Tennis such an overshadowed sport in the States by Football, Golf and Basketball along with many other sports, the Chinese do hold that every lingering advantage of having table tennis as their national sport. As Henzell said though in comparison we seem to have a group of serious players in each country trying to compete to this end. It can work, Sweden were vastly successful with a much smaller number of players than China back in the 70s and 80s but the problem as we are seeing now is that the pool of players diminishes and is sometimes not replenished, where China is overflowing with new players all over the country, and not just players, amazing coaches too.
 
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Agreed and not just the best in Europe, players from all over the place should look to train in the WSA, it really is a case of China vs. the World lol

Very true haha, but I think for Koreans and Japanese it would be more convenient to create a similar place overthere ;) Although a lot of them live and play matches in European competition.
 
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I think one of the largest issues is simply incentive. The Chinese sports system as a whole, because it is government run, there is the safety net there. If you do well you will obviously be financially taken care of, but even more importantly, if you don't do well, you still will be financially taken care of. In other countries where athletic financial success is solely based on results, you don't have that kind of security, and therefore people who otherwise might be more willing to dedicate all their effort to a specific sport are reluctant to do so, because if they do so, and don't succeed as well, they are potentially screwed financially for life. Potential athletes have to consider that athletic careers only last during the year third of their lives, and therefore, ideally they must have enough money to last them once they are done with their sports careers. No one is going to dedicate the amount of time that Chinese players dedicate to table tennis, unless they have some kind of guarantee for success, because if they did dedicate that much time, it would completely remove all other time to improve yourself in other areas and other skills. You basically sacrifice time that otherwise would be used to study, work on social skills etc.

And since only a very few maybe 2-3 people in an entire country, in the case of a sport like table tennis, can succeed, that means for those who don't they probably do relatively poorly financially in comparison to the effort they invested. Therefore, it probably would have been more beneficial for them to pick a different career.
 
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I think one of the largest issues is simply incentive. The Chinese sports system as a whole, because it is government run, there is the safety net there. If you do well you will obviously be financially taken care of, but even more importantly, if you don't do well, you still will be financially taken care of. In other countries where athletic financial success is solely based on results, you don't have that kind of security, and therefore people who otherwise might be more willing to dedicate all their effort to a specific sport are reluctant to do so, because if they do so, and don't succeed as well, they are potentially screwed financially for life. Potential athletes have to consider that athletic careers only last during the year third of their lives, and therefore, ideally they must have enough money to last them once they are done with their sports careers. No one is going to dedicate the amount of time that Chinese players dedicate to table tennis, unless they have some kind of guarantee for success, because if they did dedicate that much time, it would completely remove all other time to improve yourself in other areas and other skills. You basically sacrifice time that otherwise would be used to study, work on social skills etc.

And since only a very few maybe 2-3 people in an entire country, in the case of a sport like table tennis, can succeed, that means for those who don't they probably do relatively poorly financially in comparison to the effort they invested. Therefore, it probably would have been more beneficial for them to pick a different career.

I agree with this. Many players semi-quit or quit the sport in favor of their study or work when they are at the point to choose wether they want to go full-prof or not.
 
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See there's your problem guys. You assume that by all joining up in Europe and staying at the WSA that that is your hope of getting better. You already know what the problem is. There are just more serious players in China than anywhere else in the world. You have to grow your numbers. Only then will enough clubs and then Schools like the WSA be successful. The WSA was a great step for Austria. Now it just needs more people to lead by example and create their own schools. It's the only way Europe can do well in the future.

As for other countries. No it just simply is not a matter of relocating. You have to go out and do it yourself guys. Make more clubs. Create more growth and then maybe in the next couple of years we'll start seeing more schools being built and more facilities being popularized.

You know the real problem with the World vs China issue is that they actually take it serious and are willing to risk whatever they have to keep their country at the top. The rest of the world is just too lazy to do anything about it. We play lazy, we train lazy, we advertise lazily, we do everything in a lazy manner and then when we see the Chinese go out and top the world with their new guys again and we're like "How are they doing it? What is their key to success?"

Come on. It's so very simple. I think the best analogy is that of Lance Armstrong. When asked how much he trains he said, "I will train longer and farther than anyone else that's how I win." I believe during his training he would bike 300+ Miles every week. The guys in second place were all amazed at how great he was, but when someone asks them how much they train they respond, "I try for 100-200 miles a week. Sometimes I just don't have the energy to do more." And then they wonder how come he's winning every race?

China puts more effort in this sport than the rest of the World Combined. That's saying something. Please please, if you truly love this sport then go out and grow it. Get a group of friends interested. Talk to strangers about it. Make a club wherever there is a table. If you have a basement and you have a table invite 10 people over and make a league or do some King of the Hill. Just Do something and it will grow. And then maybe in the next 5-10 years we don't have to hear "Why are the Chinese always at the top of the Sport."
 
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See there's your problem guys. You assume that by all joining up in Europe and staying at the WSA that that is your hope of getting better. You already know what the problem is. There are just more serious players in China than anywhere else in the world. You have to grow your numbers. Only then will enough clubs and then Schools like the WSA be successful. The WSA was a great step for Austria. Now it just needs more people to lead by example and create their own schools. It's the only way Europe can do well in the future.

As for other countries. No it just simply is not a matter of relocating. You have to go out and do it yourself guys. Make more clubs. Create more growth and then maybe in the next couple of years we'll start seeing more schools being built and more facilities being popularized.

You know the real problem with the World vs China issue is that they actually take it serious and are willing to risk whatever they have to keep their country at the top. The rest of the world is just too lazy to do anything about it. We play lazy, we train lazy, we advertise lazily, we do everything in a lazy manner and then when we see the Chinese go out and top the world with their new guys again and we're like "How are they doing it? What is their key to success?"

Come on. It's so very simple. I think the best analogy is that of Lance Armstrong. When asked how much he trains he said, "I will train longer and farther than anyone else that's how I win." I believe during his training he would bike 300+ Miles every week. The guys in second place were all amazed at how great he was, but when someone asks them how much they train they respond, "I try for 100-200 miles a week. Sometimes I just don't have the energy to do more." And then they wonder how come he's winning every race?

China puts more effort in this sport than the rest of the World Combined. That's saying something. Please please, if you truly love this sport then go out and grow it. Get a group of friends interested. Talk to strangers about it. Make a club wherever there is a table. If you have a basement and you have a table invite 10 people over and make a league or do some King of the Hill. Just Do something and it will grow. And then maybe in the next 5-10 years we don't have to hear "Why are the Chinese always at the top of the Sport."

I totally agree with this! Couldn't have said it better myself :)

raazzz
 
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When every school in has a table tennis team from 2nd grade through high school and there are club teams in every town and they are very popular and attract great coaches with good pay just like baseball, soccer, football, hockey, skiing et'al then America/ Europe will have a shot at China. Until then why should we? Ma Lin is Micheal Jordan it's simple no mystery at all. Only China takes Table Tennis that serious. Sure there are individuals, but only a whole society focused on winning and greatness will produce Ma Lin or Micheal Jordan
 
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When every school in has a table tennis team from 2nd grade through high school and there are club teams in every town and they are very popular and attract great coaches with good pay just like baseball, soccer, football, hockey, skiing et'al then America/ Europe will have a shot at China. Until then why should we? Ma Lin is Micheal Jordan it's simple no mystery at all. Only China takes Table Tennis that serious. Sure there are individuals, but only a whole society focused on winning and greatness will produce Ma Lin or Micheal Jordan

That sounds accurate to me.
 

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I agree with this. Many players semi-quit or quit the sport in favor of their study or work when they are at the point to choose wether they want to go full-prof or not.

Yeah i can relate to this with so many of my friends.. They all got to a high level but not enough to get paid.. And they have to study or get a job to survive... Playing TT around this is very difficult.

If im honest.. The way TT is going in China I dont think there is an answer for the Europeans to catch up?

In China there are 5 or so Usain Bolt equivalents... They are solely programmed and dedicated to become world class from as young as 4... The next 5 or so years in TT will be interesting

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So true Dan, and it's not just TT. Almost all sports. Just look at the medals tally in 2008.

1 China (CHN) 51 21 28 100
2 United States (USA) 36 38 36 110
3 Russia (RUS) 23 21 29 73
4 Great Britain (GBR) 19 13 15 47
5 Germany (GER) 16 10 15 41

And this the medals tally in 1996 Olympics, just 12 years before.

1 United States 44 32 25 101
2 Russia (RUS) 26 21 16 63
3 Germany (GER) 20 18 27 65
4 China (CHN) 16 22 12 50
 
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Yea that's true they seem to have a much stronger focus on sports and world domination than previously. They also have a rapidly growing economy which has struck massive economic growth since they started removing government controls and moving towards free market operations. Basically they have more money to throw around and have taken to dominating in sport. 10 years ago the idea of China winning gold medals in gymnastics would have been laughed at, along with many other codes. Look at them now.
 
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So true Dan, and it's not just TT. Almost all sports. Just look at the medals tally in 2008.

1 China (CHN) 51 21 28 100
2 United States (USA) 36 38 36 110
3 Russia (RUS) 23 21 29 73
4 Great Britain (GBR) 19 13 15 47
5 Germany (GER) 16 10 15 41

And this the medals tally in 1996 Olympics, just 12 years before.

1 United States 44 32 25 101
2 Russia (RUS) 26 21 16 63
3 Germany (GER) 20 18 27 65
4 China (CHN) 16 22 12 50

Funny to see as well that China has so many more gold medals than silver and bronze, while for other countries the total number of medals is more divided between gold/silver/bronze. It is a big increase indeed, I think the change of China in the past decade has had a big influence on this as well. In the end they have by far the largest number of people in their country. Apart from GBR, this kinda explains the top-5 as well I'd say.
 
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Hahahaha crazy. They are producing athletes on a conveyor belt. But guys, check this out. As we all know most countries that play and really good at cricket are the old British colonies. China was never. But look at this :

The Chinese Cricket Association has set itself ambitious goals over the next 11 years.[2] These are:
2009: Have 720 teams across the country in a well-organised structure
2015: Have 20,000 players and 2,000 coaches
2019: Qualify for the World Cup
2020: Gain Test status

This is cricket for gods sake!! They will soon win the world cup. Just shows their determination. Also like we all know, it's a way for them to find fame and fortune and also better quality of life for their family. Just train, and the government will pay you. And when you win, you'll get more!!

Eventhough china is new to cricket ,Javed Miandad (legendary Pakistan captain), the former Pakistan batsman, has said cricket has tremendous potential to grow in China, having observed how the youngsters have taken to the game following a visit to the country as a Pakistan cricket ambassador.Now the Chinese side is preparing with help from PCB.Miandad wants Pakistan cricket board to develop infrastructure in China and provide technical assistance, free equipment and coaching to the Chinese players.

Even ICC (International Cricket Council) sees China as the next big market for cricket and regularly sends coaches and officials there to promote the sport.
Now China is a top Sporting nation with huge success in Olympics and other international sporting events,so dont get surprised to see China as a top Cricketing Nation within few years.
 
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Cricket! gees what are they wasting their time with that for :p haha I'm surprised they haven't made a bigger effort with men's tennis. Li Na has been a huge success in the women's for China

Hahahahaha Matt, you're killing me buddy! Exactly!! It's bloody insignificant compared to the price money that they will get from tennis. If they can do this to the little coverage what cricket gets, can you imagine what they'll do other sports..TT is in their bag for eternity!
 
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