2020: The suspension and restart of the sports year

  The hand of time trembled and opened the prelude to 2020: On January 23, Wuhan was "closed" due to the new crown pneumonia epidemic. On the evening of February 3, the Hubei Provincial Sports Bureau received an epidemic prevention report from Hubei Province and Wuhan City. The command of the control headquarters: "To transform the Hongshan Stadium into a shelter hospital."

  This stadium, which served for the men’s basketball match of the 7th World Military Games more than three months ago, raced against time. After 24 hours, it transformed into a “square cabin hospital” with 800 beds: “square cabin” 2 The cabin opened on May 5 and admitted 1124 patients.

  In the days when the Hongshan Gymnasium was leaving the sports attribute, the flow of human life has almost stagnated. The virus has spread globally step by step, pushing everything that belongs to the "sports year" off the established track and "cancelling" and "shutdown." The words "postponed" and "empty field" that have not been used in sports events for many years describe the complex scene of the sports world in 2020 after the bleak.

stop!

Sports train driving into a dark tunnel

  From the suspension of the five major European football leagues to the postponement of the start of the Chinese Super League, from the sudden stop of the NBA to the delay of the CBA, from the ATP and WTA jointly announced the suspension of their tennis season extension, to the IAAF, FINA and other international sports associations The adjustment of the competition calendar, the global epidemic spreads to all sports-the Tokyo Olympics, which was originally scheduled to open in July this year, are not immune. The unprecedented "postponement" is "a blessing in misfortune."

  It was March 30, and the cumulative number of confirmed new coronary pneumonia worldwide was 722,170.

On this day, the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee jointly announced that the Tokyo Olympic Games will be postponed by one year and will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021. The Tokyo Paralympic Games will be held on August 24, 2021. Held until September 5th.

  As the highest-level large-scale comprehensive event in the contemporary era, it is also the most influential human cultural event. In the history of the modern Olympic Games, only war has affected the holding of the Olympic Games.

But the Tokyo Olympics still inevitably became the first postponed Olympic Games.

In the eyes of IOC President Bach, the epidemic is clearly an "unprecedented crisis in human history" and an "unprecedented challenge for the Olympic Games."

The power of a powerful enemy is that it threatens the health and lives of athletes and spectators, and maintaining life safety is the insurmountable bottom line of the Olympic humanistic spirit.

  According to the tacit understanding of the original schedule of global sports events, the even-numbered years of the "Olympics" and the "World Cup" are regarded as the "big year" of sports, and the individual world championships will appear in odd-numbered years.

When the new crown pneumonia epidemic was like a boulder and stopped the speeding train of the 2020 sports year, the timetable of the international sports calendar was completely overturned.

Today's sports events are an organic whole with a complex structure. The industrial chain is mature and the trend of globalization is obvious. It is inseparable from the political, economic, cultural, and social backgrounds of countries and regions, and often affects the whole body.

  The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics has forced China’s competitive sports, which has always adopted the “Olympic strategy” and “National Games strategy” as the main line of development, to re-plan the sequence of events as soon as possible: After weighing many aspects, the 14th National Games in Xi’an, Shaanxi and The World University Games held in Chengdu, Sichuan has a clear time point. The former is scheduled to be held from September 15 to September 27, 2021, while the newly determined start date of the latter is only 10 days after the end of the Tokyo Olympics.

  "The postponement of the Olympic Games has had a huge positive impact on China's competitive sports competition system and competition plans in the past two years." Liu Qingzao, a professor at the Shanghai Institute of Physical Education and a well-known sports event expert, told the China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter that if Our country’s competition system is seen as a pyramid, with the Olympic Games at the top, and the National Games, the Asian Games and the Youth Olympics at the second level. Under the guidance of the “Olympic Honor Program”, talents are selected at the lower levels. “The so-called'positive impact' is All up to the rhythm."

  Since the 1993 Seventh National Games, the National Games has always been held one year after the Summer Olympics. "The National Games will produce talents and the Olympics will use talents." Today, the Olympics and the National Games "passively meet" and bear the brunt. The challenge is to prepare for the athletes.

  The Tokyo Olympics set 33 major events and 339 minor events.

Recently, the State Sports General Administration announced through Xinhua News Agency that Chinese players have won 155 minor events in 20 major events including archery, road cycling, track cycling, diving, women’s basketball, three-person basketball, women’s volleyball, and table tennis. , 221 qualifications.

  The epidemic has made it more difficult for athletes to compete for qualifications through trials.

When the epidemic broke out at the beginning of the year, in order to minimize the adverse impact of entry restrictions on Chinese athletes for the Olympic qualifications of relevant countries, and to ensure that all teams participate in the Olympic qualifying games as planned, Chinese athletes had to go abroad, train abroad, and participate in detours. It’s not easy to ensure participation in important Olympic qualifying and points competitions.

  The epidemic has cast uncertainty on all plans.

Including the allocation of qualifications for certain events in the Tokyo Olympics.

According to incomplete statistics, the qualifications for some of the 25 events, including cycling, fencing, judo, sailing, windsurfing, track and field, swimming, gymnastics, and badminton, have not yet been finalized. The relevant quotas will be in the subsequent points competition and qualification competition. produce.

  However, greater variables may continue to come.

  "From December 28, 2020 to the end of January 2021, Japan will suspend new entry from all countries and regions." According to Kyodo News, five passengers arriving in Japan from the United Kingdom were tested to be infected with the mutant new crown virus. This is the first confirmed diagnosis of a mutated new coronavirus infection in Japan.

Japan urgently "closes the country."

  The mutated new coronavirus, which has increased infectivity by at least 70% compared to the previous one, has brought unprecedented epidemic prevention challenges to Japan, which has a very dense population, and will increase the budget by 22% to 1.64 trillion yen (1 yen is about 0.063 yuan) The Tokyo Olympics will be overcast again.

However, unlike the panic when sports events were completely "halted" by the sudden epidemic at the beginning of the year, some substantial progress has been made in the preparations for the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, and the positions of all parties have become more consistent and firm.

On December 22, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee announced the dissolution of the director team for the opening and closing ceremonies. The new team will modify the ceremony and mainly add anti-epidemic elements. This move is also regarded as the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee’s reiteration of the “Olympic Games” in the current environment. Will not cancel the" position.

  When the Tokyo Olympics was forced to postpone due to the epidemic, Bach said: "Humanity is now in a dark tunnel. I hope this Olympics will become a light in the depths of the tunnel."

  With the repeated and continuous escalation of the epidemic, the moments of pressing the "pause button" may become more frequent-learning to hobble in the cracks may be the way sports people have to master in the normalization of the epidemic.

As IAAF President Sebastian Ko said, the new crown pneumonia epidemic will have a long-term impact on global sports events, not even limited to the next two years.

complex!

Sports events restart hard

  The new crown pneumonia epidemic has caused sports events to no longer be carried out according to the traditional model, but as the domestic prevention and control of the epidemic has achieved phased victory, on February 9th, the first round of domestic work and production resumed in an orderly manner.

However, sports is not a key industry for the national economy and people's livelihood, and most events have the characteristics of "people gathering". The resumption of sports is still in the brewing stage at this time.

  On May 8, Yao Ming, the chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, revealed that the Chinese Basketball Association has prepared three sets of plans for the restart of the CBA. The team invited Academician Zhong Nanshan to provide professional advice on epidemic prevention and control for the CBA semi-finals.

On May 29, the State Sports General Administration issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Orderly Resumption of Sports Events". The "Opinions" stipulated that national individual events in non-contact events can be resumed in an orderly manner. Professional events such as the Super League and CBA must be separately Formulate a work plan for event recovery and implement it after review and evaluation.

This "opinion" provides policy support for the resumption of domestic events.

  Subsequently, marked by the official rematch of the CBA on June 20, a series of domestic individual championships including CBA, Chinese Super League and Volleyball Super League and table tennis, badminton, track and field, swimming, gymnastics and other domestic individual championships have been restarted one after another.

The game system, empty field, closed management, and strict epidemic prevention and control measures have become the common features of these events.

One month after the CBA semifinals, on July 31, the CBA allowed a small number of spectators to purchase tickets for the first time after a strict review.

  Under the situation of normalization of epidemic prevention and control, the hosting of sports events has been completely different from the traditional mode of hosting sports events, but the social significance of the "rematch" of sports events far exceeds the events themselves, as Yao Ming wrote in It is stated in a letter from CBA Participants, “As the first major national sporting event to be restarted in China, the CBA semi-final is of far-reaching strategic significance for the comprehensive promotion of resumption of work and production, restoration of life order, and its social impact. It's beyond basketball itself."

  After September, the "exploratory" of large-scale mass sports events such as marathons resumed in many places in China. For the vast majority of domestic sports enthusiasts, they have another goal to participate in amateur events.

  Not only the domestic semi-finals, but also the international competitions at home.

On November 8, the 2020 ITTF Women's World Cup kicked off in Weihai, Shandong. Since then, the ITTF Men's World Cup and the ITTF Finals have also been held in China. A total of more than 100 international players have participated in China.

  Three international competitions were held in China, indicating that the international table tennis competitions have officially restarted.

This is inseparable from China's tremendous efforts to this end.

The ITTF and players from various countries have expressed their gratitude to China many times.

When the Women's Table Tennis World Cup kicked off in Weihai on November 8, Liu Guoliang, chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, said affectionately: "I was the most excited at the beginning of the game, no less than my first time to participate in the Olympic Games."

  Liu Guoliang said that the strength of Chinese table tennis is the strength of the "gene", not the strength of the "small family". "We will spare no effort to help table tennis all over the world. This is the manifestation of the mind of a big table tennis country. This time, they We saw it, and we did it too".

  However, the resumption of international events in China is currently limited to the above three international table tennis events. Considering that the international epidemic situation is still severe, the hosting of international events in the country is far from full recovery.

  Sports events and the sports industry have been hit hard by the epidemic. Faced with such an impact, the social phenomenon of "youth physique" has become prominent.

  The epidemic has led to the reduction and cancellation of various sports activities and sports training, but at the same time, online courses in various disciplines are popular.

When young people spend more time in online classes every day, the phenomenon of insufficient physical activity becomes more prominent, and the physical fitness of students inevitably declines.

  In August this year, the Ministry of Education announced the results of a survey of 14,532 primary, middle, and high school students in 9 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) on the changes in vision during the epidemic. The results show that compared with the end of 2019, the first half of 2020 , The myopia rate of the primary, middle and high school students surveyed increased by 11.7%. Among them, the myopia rate of primary school students increased the fastest at 15.2%; junior high school students increased by 8.2%, and high school students increased by 3.8%.

  In recent years, the physique of adolescents has been a focal issue of the whole society.

Although the epidemic is showing signs of aggravating the decline in the physical fitness of young people, the party and the state attach great importance to continuing to strengthen youth sports, and a series of important opinions and documents have been issued this year.

Including the 13th meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensive Deepening Reform, which reviewed and approved the "Opinions on Deepening the Integration of Sports and Education to Promote the Healthy Development of Adolescents", in September, the State Sports General Administration and the Ministry of Education jointly issued the "About Deepening the Integration of Sports and Education to Promote the Healthy Development of Adolescents" "Opinions", in October, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening and Improving School Sports Work in the New Era".

  According to the analysis of industry experts, in the next few years, domestic school sports work is expected to undergo relatively large changes, from the enhancement of the "education" function of sports, the change of the teaching mode of physical education, the enhancement of physical education teachers, and the introduction of social forces to support school sports activities. The development of sports, homework should be left in sports, the scores of sports exams increase, and sports may enter the college entrance examination, etc., will greatly enhance the status of school sports and further arouse the attention of schools, parents, and students to sports.

  On October 28th, Yunnan Province issued the "Yunnan Province Junior High School Students Sports, Music and Art Examination Scheme (Draft for Comment)", which will make Yunnan the first province in China to achieve a score of 100 in the sports entrance examination for high school entrance examinations, arousing national attention.

Of course, many parents worry that their children’s academic pressure will continue to increase; they worry that while the status of school sports will increase, it will be difficult for their children’s academic burden on cultural studies to be really reduced first-whether Yunnan can pass the reform measures of 100 points for sports in the high school entrance examination. School sports work brings new impetus and solves the concerns of parents, which will play an exemplary role in the country.

But even if the reform of school sports still faces many difficulties, the major changes in school sports that began in 2020 have already begun vigorously.

hurt!

The epidemic is raging and hurts people even more

  The CBA Basketball League in the 2020-2021 season is going on in a closed environment in Zhuji. The foreign players involved are bored during the break and gather together to play poker.

They may have complaints in their hearts, but under the epidemic, it is a good situation to have jobs, make money, and support their families.

  2020 is really too difficult for sports.

On February 25, the ITTF announced that the World Table Tennis Team Championships originally scheduled to be held in Busan, South Korea from March 22 to 29 have been postponed, and the first domino has fallen.

After that, NBA, ATP, F1, French Ligue 1, Premier League, Bundesliga, etc. were all spared. Domestic sports events, when the CBA League was in the season, had to continue to extend the Spring Festival off-season, and the start time of the Chinese Super League for the new season was not possible. Confirmed, and with the announcement of the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, the most important sports event in the world in 2020, the world sports are full of grief.

  According to relevant media reports, in 2020, global sports media broadcasting rights revenue will fall from the previously estimated 50.5 billion U.S. dollars to 32.1 billion U.S. dollars, and the total global event sponsorship revenue will fall from the previously estimated 155.3 billion U.S. dollars to 73.7 billion U.S. dollars.

As we all know, sponsorship revenue and copyright sales are the most important part of supporting the sports industry. The suspension of events and the decline in revenue will inevitably lead to negative benefits such as salary cuts and layoffs.

  On April 19, the NBA announced that it had reached an agreement with the Players Union to cut the players’ salaries by 25%, with a total value of about $475 million.

Almost at the same time, the CBA League also announced a salary reduction plan. The CEO took the lead in reducing the salary by 35%, and the salary reduction of other senior staff was also 15%-30%.

  "During the period when various competitions were suspended, the players were really depressed." Sports agent Zhang Le told a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily. "Because there is too much uncertainty, can the CBA League continue? Whether it can start or not is up in the air, so during that time, many foreign players in the CBA left China because there was no suspension in the European League. Making money is the most important thing for players."

  Of course, these are the most direct responses to the epidemic, and there are also some negative effects, which are actually delayed and last for a long time.

  For example, the performance of the sporting goods industry has declined.

During the epidemic, well-known sports brands such as Nike and Adidas closed 50% of their stores in China alone, and Nike's Greater China region laid off more than 100 employees.

Domestic sports brands are also not immune to the fact that the CBA competing products breached the contract, which caused a lot of noise in the past. According to industry analysts, the reason why Li Ning insisted and the reason why the CBA company took the players to operate are directly related to the economic environment under the epidemic. .

  The epidemics in Europe and the United States have also made it more difficult for sports events to return to normal tracks.

For example, under normal circumstances, European football giants have a total game-day income of more than 100 million euros in a season.

Nowadays, although the game resumes, but some empty stadiums, even if fans are allowed to enter the stadium, but the income will be greatly reduced.

The same is true for the ongoing CBA and the Chinese Super League next season.

  A well-known sports researcher, Bao Mingxiao, wrote during the epidemic that my country’s sports industry is an emerging industry with offline experience and gathering viewing as the main form of service, low industry concentration, and the majority of small, medium and micro enterprises and new investors. Its own industry characteristics and the development stage of the industry put it at a disadvantage in the "immunity" ranking of various industries in the national economy.

  The suspension of competitions, the reduction of salaries of players, and the hindrance of the development of the sports industry may all be painful in the long run, but the fall of the superstar is an eternal regret.

  Los Angeles local time on January 26, the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

NBA legend Kobe Bryant died unexpectedly in a helicopter crash at the age of 41.

Kobe's 13-year-old second daughter, Jaina, unfortunately also had difficulties with opportunities.

  One month after Kobe's crash, on February 28, the International Sports Arbitration Court ruled that Sun Yang had violated the anti-doping regulations and suspended him for eight years.

On July 4th, the 36-year-old badminton king Lin Dan, the veteran of the Five Dynasties Olympics, announced his retirement. Now that Chinese sports can be regarded as idols, Zhu Ting, who has just led the Tianjin women's volleyball team to win the league championship, is probably the only one.

  It was undoubtedly the death of Diego Maradona that made the majority of the 60s and 70s most sad. On November 25, God recalled the "Hand of God". The legendary star played in Buenos Aires. The family passed away suddenly, at the age of 60.

Health!

Sports breed new hope

  The epidemic caused heavy losses to human society, but it also gave people a clearer understanding of sports.

  “The epidemic has made me pay more attention to my physical condition. This year I have two feelings: one is that I have improved my personal hygiene habits and my body’s resistance is stronger; the other is that I combine home exercise with outdoor exercise and force myself to set aside for sports activities every day. Even if it’s just going for a walk, you have to move.” Beijing citizen Chai Yu, who has developed a jogging habit, said, “I can’t cure the virus, but it can make myself a little healthier. My peers have People with high blood pressure and obese people have all begun to exercise consciously."

  From "home" to "outdoor", "epidemic prevention" has awakened more people's awareness of fitness.

Compared with professional athletes, "mass fitness" does not require too many external conditions. The only thing it needs is the strong desire to "I want to be healthy."

  "Half of the time this year, children will take online lessons at home. We stipulate that children should complete at least half an hour of home exercise every day. The children will grow stronger as soon as they can go out. We can take half a day to take our children to exercise together every weekend. They are all happy." Wang Yi's son is a junior high school student, and "physical exercise" has become an indispensable part of family life this year. "Exercising with children is especially fun, and children also learn to arrange their own time for study and exercise. I used to feel that he was slow to do homework at night, but now that he finishes his homework and exercises before going to bed, the child is obviously more disciplined than before."

  Cultivating children's exercise habits, allowing young people to develop the habit of physical exercise, and allowing playgrounds and sports halls to accompany young people's growth may be the most cost-effective conventional means for human society in the fight against the epidemic.

  Even the Olympics are beckoning to young people and young projects: Come on, sports is yours, the Olympics is yours, and the world is yours.

  In early December, the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee confirmed the four major events of break dancing, skateboarding, rock climbing and surfing as additional events for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

In the context of "simplification of the Olympics" and "Olympic slimming", the biggest reason for the new project to be approved is to "bring the distance between the Olympics and young people"-the 339 sub-sports of the Tokyo Olympics will be rejected at the Paris Olympics. Reduced to 329 small items, the number of gold medals also decreased.

  The Olympics really need to "spit the old and add the new": weightlifting and boxing are the oldest and most traditional sports in human history, but the status of these events in the Olympics has been declining. Surfing, skateboarding, rock climbing, and breakdancing are the Olympic Games to maintain. Sign of vitality.

  According to Olympic scholars, surfing, skateboarding, rock climbing and break dancing are "young sports with young people as the main participating groups". "These young sports closely link young people with the city and society."

In order to allow young people to participate in the Olympics, the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee has determined that the surfing competition is located on the beautiful island of Tahiti in the South Pacific, and the skateboarding, rock climbing and breakdancing arena is famous in the center of Paris. Place de la Concorde-Bach believes that the reform plan of the "Olympic 2020 Agenda" will help the 2024 Paris Olympics better adapt to the world of "long-term coexistence" with the new crown pneumonia epidemic. "We live in a world full of uncertainty. We recognize the far-reaching impact of the epidemic on the world, and we must use sports to resolve this global crisis."

  The changes in the Olympics are out of respect for the "new students": the values ​​represented and inherited by sports events remain unchanged, but the choice of the types of events has reached an era when it should no longer be disabled.

  "Adolescent health problems are actually problems that the Olympics and sports hope to solve. It is the need of education and the needs of the Olympics to allow Olympic education to penetrate young people." Olympic expert and professor of Beijing Sport University Ren Hai said: "Only changing the old Lifestyle allows young people to grow up in a healthy lifestyle, and society will have a healthy body."

  The upcoming 2020 is full of surprises and regrets. The upcoming 2021 will still face unknown risks-but the new seeds are sprouting and growing in an extremely difficult environment: the Olympics are changing, and sports are also changing , The goal of change is to make young people stronger and make the whole society and all mankind healthier.

  China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Guo Jiancixin Yang Qiliang Xuan Source: China Youth Daily