The Aichi·Nagoya Asian Games ended: Zhejiang athletes won 35 gold medals, setting the best record in overseas competitions

China News Service, Hangzhou, October 4 (Zhang Yuhuan) On October 4, the Aichi Nagoya Asian Games officially concluded. At this Asian Games, the Chinese sports delegation ranked first in the gold medal list. Among them, 54 athletes from Zhejiang, led by 6 Olympic champions, participated in 18 major events and 22 sub-events, winning 35 gold medals, 12 silver medals and 12 bronze medals. The gold medals ranked first among all provinces and cities in the country, setting a new record for Zhejiang athletes’ best record in overseas competitions.

"The Zhejiang athletes who made the expedition to Nagoya brought many surprises to their hometown and the motherland, with breakthroughs, growth, and new hope." Zhu Qinan, deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Sports Bureau, said in an interview.

Old, middle-aged and young people are on the same stage, let’s bloom more

In this Asian Games, Zhejiang’s participating lineup shows distinct characteristics of a talent echelon. Among the 54 athletes, there are veterans such as Wang Shun and Xie Zhenye, as well as 15-year-old swimming rookie Fan Yaqi. Three generations of old, middle and young people compete on the same stage and achieve mutual success.

Swimming is Zhejiang’s “ace”. The Chinese swimming team won a total of 30 gold medals in this Asian Games, of which Zhejiang contributed 12. Xu Jiayu holds 15 Asian Games gold medals, becoming the Chinese athlete with the most gold medals in the history of the Asian Games.

Track and field also achieved breakthroughs. 7 athletes from Zhejiang participated in the competition and won 5 gold medals and 2 silver medals, setting 1 Asian record, breaking 2 competition records and 1 national record. The 17-year-old "kid sister" Chen Yujie competed in four events and won 3 gold medals and 1 silver. The 18-year-old Yan Ziyi threw 70 meters 46 in the first throw, setting a new women's javelin record and filling the gap for Zhejiang's Asian Games gold medal in this event. Blank; 33-year-old veteran Xie Zhenye won the men's 4×100m relay and won the gold medal; Wu Nanjun, who made his debut on the Asian Games stage, won the men's discus silver medal with 61.58 meters, achieving Zhejiang's Asian Games medal breakthrough in this event.

In the gymnastics arena, Tian Hao helped the Chinese team win the men's team gold medal. Zhejiang men's gymnasts reached the top of the Asian Games again after 40 years; Zhang Qingying helped the Chinese women's team achieve fourteen consecutive Asian Games titles with her steady performance. In badminton, Chen Yufei won the women's team championship with the Chinese women's team for the first time in 12 years.

"Every Zhejiang athlete deserves attention and is worthy of pride. It is their hard work that has led to the flourishing of participating projects." Zhu Qinan said.

System, reform and national participation, none of them can be missing

Many sports fans lament: Zhejiang has more and more amazing young athletes shining in international competitions. Zhu Qinan attributed this to the thickness of the system.

"We have always been rooted in the grassroots in project layout and reserve talent training, constantly discovering talents from the grassroots, and then advancing to the provincial team to provide talents for the country." Zhu Qinan said that Zhejiang has built a reserve talent training system with the provincial team as the leader, prefecture-level sports schools as the backbone, and county-level grassroots characteristic schools as the universal basis. Swimming is the most mature answer to this system - the connection from grassroots characteristic schools to provincial teams has supported the Zhejiang swimming team's outstanding performance in the Asian Games.

Competitive sports must not only be top-notch and win gold medals, but also stabilize the basic base of talent reserves. Zhejiang is solidly promoting the integration of sports and education: the popularization side relies on school sports to make more children fall in love with sports, and the talent selection side allows talented young people to be transferred upward from the grassroots level. Taking shooting as an example, Zhejiang Province has deployed more than 40 training points, and 11% of the total number of training and registered shooters in the country. At present, Zhejiang Province has about 299,000 registered people for amateur training, thus establishing a complete talent training system.

"We also have a very good coaching team, especially the grassroots coaching team, which is very high-level and can identify and select young talents immediately." Zhu Qinan said that Chen Yujie, the "little sister" among netizens, was discovered from the school sports meeting. The coaches' persistence day after day has also laid a solid foundation for the athletes to create excellent results.

In Zhu Qinan's view, the value of sports education goes far beyond the competitive arena. Zhejiang is deepening the integration of sports and education, allowing young people to get out of the classroom and into the sports field. It continues to hold training camps for different projects and different age groups, and implements activities for champions to enter campuses, communities, and companies. It also cultivates mass brand events such as Wuyue Cup, Zhejiang BA, Zhejiang SA, and Zhejiang VA.

"Take Zhejiang SA as an example. People as young as 6 and as old as 60 can participate as long as they like swimming and can swim." Zhu Qinan said that from spiritual guidance to brand cultivation to the popularization of the event, Zhejiang is transforming the results of the Asian Games into broader social value.

Stepping off the podium, everything starts from scratch. As this Asian Games comes to an end, the glory of the Asian Games has returned to zero. Next, how will Zhejiang Sports aim at new goals?

Just before the opening of the Asian Games, the "Zhejiang Province's "15th Five-Year Plan" Sports Reform and Development Plan" was officially issued, making it clear that Zhejiang will move towards "a strong province in competitive sports". Zhu Qinan said that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, Zhejiang will focus on three tasks: First, optimize the layout of the "633+N" project and make up for the shortcomings in breadth and depth of the layout; second, benchmark the national Olympic strategy, continue to deepen the talent reserve and training quality and efficiency of the "633" project, and deliver more outstanding reserve talents to the country; third, strengthen support measures, implement compound support such as "one person, one case, one team" to build a scientific and efficient preparation system.

Zhu Qinan said that he expected Zhejiang athletes to continue to shine in future competitions, win glory for the country and add prestige to the province.