2022: The year of sport in China

2022 was defined by one thing: COVID-zero. The third year of the policy meant that sport events took place in empty stadiums, while the country’s domestic leagues continued their slide into international irrelevance.

But despite the depressing state of domestic Chinese sport, Chinese athletes, especially women, found success internationally in both individual and team events. 

The weird Winter Olympics

The stand-out event was China’s Winter Olympics in February.

Desperate to present the successes of the COVID-zero policy to the world, Beijing 2022 was one of the few sporting events in China that allowed spectators inside stadiums and at events.

However, there were only small numbers of specially-selected spectators at events, which took place inside the draconian “closed-loop management system.” It is an open secret within the industry that these spectators were mostly Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members and government employees. Spectators, athletes, journalists, volunteers, and staff all had to stay inside approved accommodation (usually very spartan dormitories) within the Olympic Village “bubble” for the duration of the Games. Those who tested positive for COVID-19 were put under lockdown with constant monitoring. 

But inside the bubble, China made some big sporting waves, finishing third in the medals table with nine golds, the highest position the country has ever achieved in the Winter Olympics. 

Athletes like teenage snowboarder Sū Yìmíng 苏翊鸣, alongside ice skating duo Suí Wénjìng 隋文静 and Hán Cōng 韩聪, broke through to become mainstream stars in the country thanks to spectacular gold-medal wins in their events.

Eileen Gu (谷爱凌 Gǔ Àilíng), the freestyle skier who controversially switched from Team U.S.A. to China, emerged not only as a star inside China but as a global icon after she won two golds and a silver across the three main park events.

China also performed well in its traditional bases of speed skating and aerial skiing, improving on performances in South Korea four years earlier.

In much of the international discussion, China’s Winter Olympics and Qatar’s FIFA World Cup later in the year were both seen as examples of “sportswashing” — where countries with dubious human rights records seize an international sporting event as a platform to clean up their public image. However the Beijing Olympics may have actually highlighted the continued human rights abuses of the CCP, renewing mainstream discussion of repression of Hongkongers, Uyghurs, and other minorities.

Beijing 2022 was certainly a success for China’s domestic winter sports culture. During the bid for the Games, China pledged to get 300 million of its citizens active in winter sports, and as the Games opened, China claimed that 340 million people had taken up winter sports. While those numbers are no doubt highly massaged, it’s still clear that it inspired Chinese to take up winter-themed sports in record numbers.

But whether this interest will persist remains to be seen. COVID-zero has seen a slowdown of business for winter sports businesses across China.

One contact inside the marketing department of Thaiwoo Ski Resort — an upmarket private resort near Chongli, one of the Olympic host cities to the northwest of Beijing — told The China Project that the resort is in a precarious position. Management had expected 2022 to be very busy due to the Games, but this did not happen as Chongli was shut to the public during the Olympics and Paralympics.

Thaiwoo had invested heavily on expansion and upgrades in the build-up to the Olympics, but ran up significant debts when the Olympics boom never appeared. The resort has since been forced to make a number of operating cuts. When I visited recently, most runs were closed. Before New Year, the resort was also hit by power cuts. Two skiing instructors I spoke to claimed this was due to the resort being unable to pay its electricity bills, however the marketing contact could not confirm this.

Female athletes break new ground

2022 was another great year for China’s female athletes.

Women won the majority of China’s medals at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Aside from Eileen Gu, other golds came from short track speed-skaters Fàn Kěxīn 范可新, Qū Chūnyǔ 曲春雨 and Zhāng Yǔtíng 张雨婷, as well as aerial skier Xú Mèngtáo 徐梦桃.

Beyond the Olympics, perhaps the greatest achievement for China was the superb win by the Chinese women’s soccer team during the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup, the country’s first since 2006. Players such as Wáng Shuāng 王霜, Táng Jiālì 唐佳丽, and Wáng Shānshān 王珊珊 continue to excel. A last-minute goal in injury time by Xiào Yùyí 肖裕仪 during the final against South Korea was perhaps the champagne moment of the year for Chinese sport. All eyes will be on the team at next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia.

China’s women also excelled in basketball at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Cup in Australia this September. Drawn in a tough group against favorites U.S.A. as well as South Korea, Puerto Rico, and Belgium, the team eased through the group, only dropping a match against the U.S. In the knockouts, China defeated Olympic Games bronze medalist France and the host Australia on their way to the final against the U.S.A. Despite suffering defeat in the final, the team returned home to much praise for their excellent run.

In martial arts, Zhāng Wěilì 张伟丽 returned to the top of the Ultimate Fighting Championships women’s strawweight division after submitting Carla Esparza in a one-sided fight in November. The title win came five months after Zhang secured a performance of the night with a stunning spinning backfist knockout of strawweight legend Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Zhang’s performances earned her ESPN’s female fight of the year award.

In swimming, Lǐ Bīngjié 李冰洁 set a new world record in the short course 400m freestyle. Although her year ended on a sour note after she had to withdraw from the World Championships because of COVID, the 20-year-old will head into the new year with a lot of potential success on the way.

At the World Athletics Championships in July, Féng Bīn 冯彬 secured one of China’s two golds after throwing a personal best in the final of the discus.

In tennis, Zhèng Qīnwén 郑钦文 broke into the top 25 in the world alongside Zhāng Shuài 张帅. The 20-year-old ended the year by winning the Women’s Tennis Association’s Newcomer of the Year award. Meanwhile, away from the court, Péng Shuài’s 彭帅, the tennis star who disappeared after making sexual assault allegations against a senior Chinese government official, was seen in public at the Winter Games. 

Basketball: Liaoning return to the top 

The Liaoning Flying Leopards won the 2021-22 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) season back in April. 

Headed by Guō Àilún 郭艾伦, the Flying Leopards won 32 of 38 games during the regular season in March, before steamrolling the playoffs, including winning four straight games in the best-of-seven final against the Zhejiang Lions.

As with soccer, basketball was not immune from COVID restrictions in 2022. China’s strict border policies and closed-management bubbles meant the league suffered a dearth of international players. 

Despite teams being allowed a total of four foreign players on their roster, only the Beijing Ducks managed to fill out the quota. The Flying Leopards registered two foreign players — Eric Moreland and Kyle Fogg — both of whom were instrumental in helping the team win their first title since 2018.

Soccer: Wuhan Three Towns win Chinese Super League

Wuhan Three Towns team made history last week by coming first in China’s top-tier football league, the Chinese Super League (CSL), after just one season. The club, founded only six years ago and only promoted to the CSL in 2021, was handed the league crown after a COVID-hit Tianjin Tigers were forced to forfeit their final game. 

Wuhan Three Towns, currently managed by retired Spanish midfielder Pedro Morilla, led the league from the very first round and stayed at the top for almost the entire league campaign, never falling lower than second.

At the other end of the league table, Guangzhou, historically the most successful Chinese club, found themselves second-last and relegated to the second tier for the first time since 2010. Guangzhou had dominated the Super League for the past decade. Part-owned by debt-ridden property developer Evergrande, speculation persists that the club could either be sold or closed down.