China's massive medals haul at the London Games has once again dazzled the world, showcasing the advantages of its State-run sporting system. The glories and triumphs truly boost our national pride. China, once-called the "sick man of Asia", is now a strong nation in many fields.

The way toward success is not just full of glory and triumph, but also cruel twists and bitter blows. As Liu Xiang crashed out at the first hurdle and tumbled on the track, a home crowd of 1.3 billion suffered feelings of emotional trauma. As he hopped alone to reach the finish line, a wave of cheering and applause erupted at the stadium.

China's "juguo tizhi", literally "the whole nation system", is truly a powerful tool that enables sporting genius across the country to get on the fast track to hone their talents. Such a State-financed and coached system may be not perfect, but the model has proved efficient and successful.

For example, thanks to the process of scouting, selecting and intensive training, the majority of China's Olympians started training in early childhood. Through years of perseverance and endurance, they are more likely to win in international competitions. And as a natural result, the bond between the athletes and the country that nurtured them could only grow stronger in their quest of good results. More importantly, these "made in China" sports elites can inspire young generations to strive forward against all odds in and beyond the sports arena.

This training system is not China's invention. By adopting a similar training system, the former East Europe block, especially the Soviet Union and East Germany during the 1980s, were turned into gold medal generating power houses. Nowadays, Russia, Japan, South Korea and Germany are still embracing similar systems to some extents. But without doubt, China has made the best possible outcome and impact in international sports competitions.

In China's current system, much of the resources are concentrated on the most talented athletes, while encouraging the ordinary to leapfrog. Though such a system has some limitations, it remains evident that it is the smartest and most workable way for China to achieve good results in games like the Olympics.

Meanwhile, during the past decades, China has spent great efforts and invested a lot building sports facilities nationwide in cities and villages, colleges and schools, parks and living communities. Such a "whole nation" system for developing sports provides a fertile soil for creating and maintaining a sustainable yield of distinguished athletes, while keeping the Chinese people as a whole healthy and fit.

Surprisingly, while receiving applause and admiration around the world, China is accused by some Western media of abusing athletes. One Reuters article cited a diving coach as saying "why are Chinese women so successful? Most of the men are coached. The women are literally beaten into submission. If you said no to anything, you would be chastised, slapped around. It's a brutal system... The budding young talents are shut up in closed training schools at a tender age and kept apart from their parents."

Such accusations are nonsense. Some coaches do practice harsh discipline, but they also care about their trainees even more than their own children. As a Chinese saying goes, "good pupils are to be brought up by strict teachers".

In fact, some media in certain Western countries have never stopped efforts to demonize China with various accusations. Today, Chinese athletes are achieving more and more remarkable results in various international sports competitions, which greatly enhanced the country's image in the world and Chinese people's national pride. Some Western countries become uneasy and start to point fingers at China's sports system, manipulating stories like "Challenges to State-run sport system are growing louder", calling for a "revamp of sports", condemning "the country's pursuit of Olympic medals at all costs", and "drilling its athletes into becoming robots programmed to win gold medals".

The "whole nation system" has served the country well. Over the past few decades, it has taken China from no medals to near the top of the medals tally, quenching the thirst of Chinese living in the mainland and overseas to enjoy moments of national pride. China has not only stood up, but out-sprinted and out-jumped many other nations in the sports arena. Why should we bother to fundamentally change or discard our sports system?

Now, the London Olympics are over, but please view all participants equally and fairly under the Olympic rings. No politics, just the Games, please!

The author is a current affairs commentator.

(HK Edition 08/21/2012 page3)