As a result, great achievements have been made in all kinds of sporting events. Sports have played a very active role in promoting the health and longevity of the Chinese people. China did not have any Olympic champion before 1949, but today it has more than 1,200 world champions and won 52 Olympic gold medals.
China now has more than five million young athletes.
In addition to the Beijing University of Physical Education, there are 35 sports research institutes and 15 sports institutes, as well as over 120 universities and colleges that have physical education departments. The Chinese Sports Science Association also has 10,000 members. Newspapers, magazines, journals and publishing houses that follow sports in China have greatly developed. There are 12,353 newspapers and magazines, including the English-language magazine China Sports that focus on sports. More than 400 million copies of books on sports have been published.