INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

WOMEN IN CHINESE SPORTS:
ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES
Ms Xiao JIE (CHN)
The fundamental and salient gender issue related to the
contemporary sports of China is twofold: the role of women and their
social status.
Women's Significant Role in Current Sports of China
In the athletic field, women are playing decisive part. From 1998
to 2002, the Chinese athletes won 485 championships at world-level
games and the women contributed to 289 (59.5%). At the 27 th
Summer Olympics in Sydney 2000, the Chinese players won 28 gold
metals, but the 16.5 of them got by the female (59%).
In coaching, physical education, administration and mass physical
activities, the women's role is already indispensable. Compared with
that of 20 years ago, the senior female coaches of badminton at three
professional-level sports teams (national, provincial and municipals)
have increased greatly. Today the female coaches have taken up 5% at
national badminton team, 40% and 45% at provincial and city teams
respectively.
The Main Reason of the Achievements
Based on the analysis of the women's roles in Chinese history,
especiallly in the periods of the matriarchy and Tang Dynasty in
which women made great contributions to physical activities, the
paper systematically analyses and puts forward three major reasons,
high political right, preferable social & culture factors, and the
improvement of sports system in the past decades.
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