Sports

Photo from the Official Website of Helong Sports Center

 

Hunan has achieved continuous progress in competitive sports, mass sports, sports of youths, and various sports related industries.

Over the past years, Hunan has persisted in advancing competitive sports development with its own characteristics. It has cradled 12 Olympic champions, who have collectively secured 18 Olympic gold medals. By the end of 2023, Hunan athletes had won 250 world, 421 Asian and 1,695 national championships in both international and domestic competitions.

There are 194,745 sports venues around the province, including 316 gymnasiums, 7,507 stadiums, 1,546 swimming pools, and 8,248 training rooms. The Changsha Olympic Sports Center Park began construction in 2022. With a total planning area of 10 square kilometers, the park will include a 60,000-seat stadium, an 18,000-seat gymnasium, and a 3,000-seat diving and swimming venue.

Besides, Hunan has a solid foundation for mass sports participation. Hunan has taken the lead nationwide in initiating many featured sports events, including the "river, lake, mountain and road" national fitness brand activities, county-featured sports programs, and a series of creative brand activities such as the "Torch Inheritance - China Health Run". According to the annual statistical communiqué, 3,337 mass sports events have been held around the province in 2023, and 430 rural villages have been newly equipped with sports facilities.

In 2023, the pioneering Hunan "Cloud" Sports Games was involved into the National Fitness Games Online, attracting over 710,000 participants and reaching an online audience of more than 1.2 billion. The Zhuzhou "Factory BA" and Liuyang "All BA" basketball games were shortlisted for the first batch of quality cases of the national mass "three big ball sports" events.

According to the 2020-2030 Plan for Building Hunan into a Sports Powerhouse issued by the General Office of the Hunan Provincial People's Government, by 2030, Hunan will be in the front rank nationwide in comprehensive strength and core competitiveness. The sport-related industry value will exceed 250 billion yuan. At least two sports enterprises will be listed. The number of sports workers will reach 500,000.

In recent years, public fitness has been popularized widely. By 2030, 40% of Hunan people will take frequent exercises. Some 15-minute sport circles will be formed. The per capita area of sports fields will surpass 2.3 sqm, and 60,000-km footpaths for fitness will be built. Hunan athletes will participate in 21 events in the finals of the Chinese National Games, 5 more than the present. At least ten athletes will participate in four to eight events in Olympic Games.

Chinese source: Voice of Hunan, Hunan Statistics Bureau

Updated in April 2024