Sports

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

Competitive Sports

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.

Mass Sports and Fitness

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.

Sports Venues and Facilities

Hunan's total and per capita area of sports and fitness venues have both seen leapfrogging growth over the past decade. The gap between Hunan and the national average in terms of per capita sports venue area has kept narrowing. By the end of 2023, the national average per capita area of sports venues was 2.89 square meters. Hunan reached 2.55 square meters, marking a 45.71% increase compared to 2020. Changsha has topped the province with a per capita area of sports venues of 2.77 square meters, followed by Hengyang with the figure of 2.72 square meters. Yongzhou, Changde, and Zhangjiajie also exceeded 2.6 square meters each.

As of 2023, Hunan has built 194,745 sports venues with a total area of over 168.4 million sqm and per capita area of 2.55 sqm. The venues include 316 gymnasiums, 7,507 stadiums, 1,546 swimming pools, and 8,248 training rooms. Beyond that, Hunan has completed the construction of 25 sports parks of various types. Changsha, Zhuzhou, Yueyang, Chenzhou, and Huaihua each have three parks, leading the province.

Chinese source: Voice of Hunan, Hunan Statistics Bureau

Updated in July 2024