Xinhua News Agency, HEFEI, April 13th, amateur players stepped onto the professional “stage” — the national swimming city series “a spark of fire”
Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Chang
executive chief referee, international level; The commander, national level; Players, amateur level.
Although about 700 players participating in the competition are not professional athletes, in the Hefei Railway Station race of the 2011 National Swimming City series, these players will follow the rules of professional competitions in front of professional judges, compete among swimming enthusiasts.
“The specifications and lineup of this competition are too strong, and I feel very different!” Huang Yong, a swimming enthusiast in Tongcheng, Anhui province who participated in this scale event for the first time, shook the water on his head while watching the electronic timing results above one side of the swimming pool. Under the stimulation of the professional competition atmosphere, huang Yong’s performance is better than he expected.
Xu Qi, vice minister of social activities department of swimming Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sports, introduced: “All the referee, equipment and execution rules are carried out according to professional competition standards, let swimming lovers who did not have the opportunity to participate in high-level and professional events in the past also feel the organization of professional events, thus promoting and popularizing swimming.”
The National Swimming City series in 2019 is a national swimming event that is innovated and created by the Swimming Management Center of the State General Administration of Sports and the China Swimming Association and serves the vast number of swimming enthusiasts nationwide. It will be held in 15 cities across the country, including 14-station series and 1-station finals. The top 10 athletes in each individual will be promoted to the finals.
At present, the popularity of registration for each series gives Xu Qi confidence: to make the competition a brand competition facing the common people. He described it as “a single spark can start a prairie fire”: “children from their 60 s to their 60 s can participate in the competition, which will have a great incentive effect on swimming enthusiasts, especially children. One person participating in the competition and the whole family participating in the competition are also the promotion of swimming virtually.” Xu Qi said that taking people as the center to run competitions and letting people enjoy competitions will better promote the development of national swimming activities and further promote and popularize swimming.
According to Wang Yan, a 62-year-old swimming enthusiast, current swimming enthusiasts “catch up with the good time”.
“In the past nine years, there were only a few events we could sign up for in a year. Now I can sign up for one or twenty events a year, and the events are more and more professional.” Wang Yan said frankly that he enjoyed the process of participating in the competition, “the competition itself is an opportunity for amateurs to learn and communicate, which can increase their interest in practice.”
Chen Jianhong, a famous Wanji swimmer who was invited to go home to his hometown and the current head coach of the Hong Kong swimming team, was quite touched when watching the game on the side of the court. “Compared with many years ago, the mass base of swimming has expanded and the number of indoor swimming pools has doubled. With the continuous improvement of comprehensive national strength and the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, there will be more and more similar events in the future, and Chinese sports will certainly develop better.”