Chinese sports authority to abandon“gold medal supremacy”

The Chinese sports authority has vowed to abandon the "gold medal supremacy" mentality -- a blind pursuit of gold medals -- that has guided its work, according to a statement released on Monday.

The Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) published a feedback the General Administration of Sports (GAS) made to a discipline inspection in 2014. In the feedback, the GAS detailed measures it will take to correct problems identified during the inspection.

"Gold medal supremacy" was among the problems. The GAS said a few officials had developed incorrect goals, as gold medals won in the sports they administer can boost their political credentials and bring them economic returns.

However, the misguided policies of these officials could motivate athletes and coaches to pursue good results at the expense of the athletic spirit and morals, and some might even break the law, according to the statement.

The administration vowed to root out the practice of chasing gold medals, and will assess the performance of the sports administration on multiple criteria, including public participation in sports and cost efficiency of public sports investments.

GAS will no longer rank localities for the medals or performance of their athletes in international and national games.

The administration will also relinquish its power in approving commercial games or games organized by the public, only retaining approval rights over national games, games bearing national interests, and special games, in response to criticism over a lack of transparency in the approval of events.

The GAS inspection was part of a second round of discipline inspections carried out in 2014. The CPC has launched five rounds of inspections since the CPC 18th National Congress in 2012, leading to the discovery of a number of corruption cases. 

Original title by Xinhua: Sports authority vows to eradicate "Gold medal supremacy"