Overseas Chinese invigorate National Games, but struggle for success

The fame of China's star swimmers Sun Yang and Ning Zetao has attracted not only Chinese fans, but also plenty of foreigners, to the China National Games at the Tianjin Olympic Sports Center. Among those, several are fellow underwater athletes. [Special coverage]

Along with the three overseas Chinese competing at the National Games in equestrian, shooting and athletics events, five overseas Chinese swimmers have qualified for competition.

One of them is 17-year-old U.S. swimmer Zhang Xiangyuan, a fan of distance swimmer Sun, who said competing at the National Games means much more than a simple homecoming.

"It's my first time coming back to China to compete," Zhang told the Global Times after finishing his 100-meter freestyle heat on Sunday. "I haven't competed in a major competition like the National Games in the U.S."

It is the first time the National Games has been open to overseas Chinese in its 58-year history.

Aim for Sun

Zhang, who focuses on short-distance swimming, applied for five disciplines in swimming besides the 100m freestyle.

Though the young man, who lives in Pittsburg, was unable to reach any of the semifinals as of Tuesday, he said the preparation for the races and competing with elite athletes has helped him learn a lot.

"It's a competition among top swimmers," Zhang noted. "Swimming with elite swimmers will enable you to know your weaknesses and help you find room for improvement."

He said watching elite athletes like Sun and Ning practice may also help him progress, adding that one of his top goals in the competition is to get a selfie with reigning freestyle world champion Sun.

"He [Sun] has security guards along him, I can't get close to him easily," Zhang said with a smile. "I need to find a time when he is not surrounded."

Long journey

Allowing overseas Chinese athletes to compete at the National Games has been seen as a way to invigorate the old-fashioned games, which previously only saw provincial teams competing against each other.

Speculation has also been raised that China may consider naturalizing overseas Chinese athletes who do well at the National Games to pave the way for Olympic glory.

At the field court, Canadian Nina Schultz made her debut at the National Games in the women's javelin throw on Saturday.

The 19-year-old is the granddaughter of athletics trailblazer Zheng Fengrong, a former high jumper who was the first Chinese athlete to break a world record.

"I only learned my grandma was a world champion when I grew up," she told the media in fluent Chinese. "I started practicing athletics with only one goal: to surpass my grandma's achievement."

In 1957, 20-year-old Zheng broke the then-world record of 1.77 meters in the women's high jump. Zheng's husband Duan Qiyan is also a high jump specialist, who claimed gold in the high jump at the first National Games.

Schultz is a heptathlon specialist who has already been dubbed "Canada's next Brianne Theisen-Eaton" after the world-level heptathlon athlete, but at the National Games she only applied to enter the javelin throw and shot put.

Her result in the javelin heat was second from bottom in the 19-woman race, with her best throw of 45.04 meters falling about 20 meters short of final winner Li Lingwei's 64.07 meters. Schultz blamed her performance on jet lag.

"I am too tired," said Schultz, who spent almost two days on the road traveling from Canada to Tianjin. "But participating in the National Games already means a lot to me and my family."

Schultz, now a student at Kansas State University, has recorded results in the heptathlon better than any female athlete of Chinese nationality has achieved.

She hinted she may adopt Chinese nationality to represent China at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to "fulfill the family dream."

Hard goodbye

U.S. shooter Jay Shi Jing became the first overseas Chinese to compete at the National Games by simply starting in the men's 50-meter pistol on August 28, the first match day of the event.

Shi, who was born in Tianjin in 1979 before immigrating to the U.S. when he was 9, said he was thrilled when he got the news that overseas Chinese could participate in this year's National Games.

"It's amazing; even now I can't believe it," Shi told the Xinhua News Agency. "Showing up at the National Games arena and hearing my relatives chant and cheer for me is an experience as precious as hitting a bull's-eye."

Wearing a uniform emblazoned with the Chinese words "nanyi likai," which mean "hard to say goodbye," Shi, who now works in web application development and software engineering, said that this would be his last pistol event.

"This is my last 50m pistol event," said Shi, who will now focus on rifle shooting. "What makes it even more special is that it was held in my motherland. The words are exactly how I feel."