China at the Olympics
This article is about the Chinese team that first attended the Olympics in 1952. Prior to that a team representing the Republic of China competed from 1924 until 1948.
Communist China first sent a team to the Olympics in 1952, then again from 1984 onwards, though athletes from mainland China competed in the Olympic Games between 1932 and 1948 as part of the team representing the Republic of China (Taiwan now competes as the Republic of China).
The Chinese delegation first competed in the Summer Olympics in 1952 at Helsinki, Finland but was not able to make it for most of the events that they planned to participate in. They only were able to have one athlete to make it to his event. The whole Chinese delegation included the men's basketball and football team and Wu Chuanyu. Swimmer Wu Chuanyu was the only athlete from the Chinese delegation who was able to take part in the official competition in 1952.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) was absent for the Summer Games from 1956 all the way to 1980 showing up only in the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, California, USA and show up they did. From a single athlete in 1952, the PRC's athlete roster included 216 athletes and they won a total of 32 medals that year including 15 gold medals. They ranked 4th overall that year.
From this point on, the PRC has never missed a single Summer Games and they racked up medals in every meeting with their best performance in 2008 when they were also the host country. They racked up a total of 100 medals including a staggering 51 gold medal pile. That was their strongest showing to date.
For the Winter Games, the story is a little bit different. They have never missed a single Winter Olympics since they first participated in 1980. But they only won Winter Olympic medals in 1992. Skaters LiLi Yan took the silver in women's short track speed skating (500 meters) while YeYe Qiaobo took the silver for both 500 meter and 1000 meters women's speed skating. From this point on though, the PRC has won medals in the Winter Olympics consistently.
Trivia
- Four Chinese tennis players, representign the Republic of China attended the opening ceremony at the 1924 Olympic Games, but later withdrew from the competition. Nevertheless, this is the first appearance of Chinese people at an Olympic venue.
- The first medal and gold medal for China was won by Xu Haifeng in Shooting in 1984.
- In 1992, 13-year-old Fu Mingxia of China won the platform diving event, making her the second-youngest person to win an individual gold medal.
- At the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympics, China came fourth in the gold medal table, second at the Athens and London Olympics, and first at the Beijing Olympics.
- China hosted the Olympic Games for the first time in Beijing in 2008, and will host the Winter Olympics in Beijing 2022.
Related Pages
- Information and history of other countries at the Olympics.
- About Beijing Games 2008 and the city of Beijing
- About Taiwan at the Olympic Games
- About Republic of China at the Olympics
- China at the Winter Olympics
- About Sport in China
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