Pot of gold
Diao Ying
China Daily
Publication Date: 19-08-2008



Apart from the sudden status of a national hero, a financial windfall was awaiting Xu Haifeng, China's first Olympic champion, when he won a gold in men's free pistol in Los Angeles in 1984--a princely sum of 9,000 yuan (US$1,310). This was 1,000 yuan ($145) more than other medal winners as he had brought home the nation's first gold.
He also got a triple increment, with his monthly salary shooting to 98 yuan from the 50.5 yuan he made prior to the Games.
"I felt like a millionaire," says Xu, now the vice-director of China's Cycling and Fencing Administrative Centre.
How times change! Over 130 Chinese athletes have emerged as Olympic champions since Xu, and many of them are actually millionaires. In Forbes rich list for China, basketball star Yao Ming ranks as the richest Chinese athlete, with an income of 380 million yuan in 2007. He is followed by hurdler Liu Xiang, who made 160 million yuan last year.
The difference between Xu Haifeng and Yao Ming represents the difference China's reforms and opening up have made to the country's sports sector. In Xu's time, China had just begun to open up but was still essentially a planned economy. But by the time Yao, who was born in 1981, and Liu, born in 1983, grew into sports stars, China had become a more mature market economy, and the value of sportsmanship, like that of every other scarce resource, came to be priced by the market.
"A straightforward comparison between different generations is useless," says Wei Jizhong, former vice-chairman of the China Olympic Committee. "There was no market demand for the likes of Xu by enterprises then. But now, enterprises seek excellent athletes like Liu and Yao to work as their brand ambassadors."
Lu Hao, Yao's agent in China, argues Xu had a much better life than his contemporaries: he was in the national team, the food there was much better, and he even got a fixed monthly salary. "Although he did not make big bucks as Liu and Yao do now, his life is so much better than the common people at the time."
Former sports official Wei agrees and says the facilities that Xu received were already much better than athletes before him. Wei, who was also the director of China's women's volleyball team, says: "Xu at least got a bonus after winning the gold, but Lang Ping and the volleyball team got nothing--even when they became the world champions and inspired a whole generation of Chinese."
Lang Ping captained the women's volleyball team in the early 1980s and led it to victory in five straight world championships.
Corporate patronage
The nature of corporate patronage of sports has radically changed since the time Xu came home with a gold. Long-term Olympic sponsor Coca-Cola did not launch its first advertisement in China until 1986.
Unlike today, it did not seek popular athletes for its commercials then. Instead, its first TV commercial was in the form of a sponsorship of a BBC documentary that was broadcast on CCTV. And adidas, the only sportswear sponsor of the Beijing Games, did not enter China until 1997.
As in China's economic opening up, some sectors have opened up faster than others in sports as well. Basketball and soccer went commercial much earlier than the rest and hence have a more mature business model. Some non-Olympic sports like snooker also started going pro from the very beginning. But for all other varieties of sports, China still follows the system it copied from the Soviet Union in the 1950s: athletes are "public owned", and their commercial activities are operated by associations representing the country.
Yao is one of the most successful athletes in terms of developing commercial value. Ever since he left for NBA, a whole team has been taking care of his endorsements and other business activities. Zhang Mingji, whose wife is Yao's cousin, and an MBA student at Chicago business school, leads the team that manages Yao's businesses both at home and abroad.
For his foreign deals, an economic professor at Chicago University, John Huizinga, has helped Yao draw up a complete marketing plan including negotiations with Houston Rocket and Reebok. At home, Zhang selected Lu Hao, a former basketball player, to work as Yao's agent. With the help of this professional team, Yao has managed his commercialisation much better than other Chinese athletes. No surprises then that he has topped the Forbes fortune list of Chinese athletes for five years in a row.
Compared with Yao, Liu Xiang, who is just two years younger, is a "state-owned asset". His business activities are managed by the Chinese Athletic Association, and agents can only talk with him through the association. According to the rules of the General Administration of Sport, he has to divide his income with his coach Sun Haiping, the Shanghai sports administration--from where he got selected into the national team--and the national athletic association. So although Liu and Yao have about the same number of endorsements, Yao's income is more than double that of Liu.
Wei says the difference is natural since they have been trained under different systems. Basketball, according to Wei, is one of the earliest sports that was opened up and reformed. Yao does not have to train with the national team. He returns home to compete when there are major sporting events, and leaves when they are over. But Liu continues to be under the national system. The association takes care of him and he also gets subsidy from the country, so "he does not completely belong to himself".
Some of the younger athletes are completely out of the national system, and have achieved success through their own diligence and family support. The 21-year-old snooker player Ding Junhui, who was financially supported by his family, became famous in 2005, when he won the World Snooker China Open. The World Snooker Association now ranks him 11th.
His father Ding Wenjun, who used to sell cigarettes, sold almost all his belongings to support Ding. Now, apart from the prize money from the myriad competitions he has won, Ding Junhui makes a killing through endorsements. Last year, his income was estimated to be around 4.8 million yuan.
Yao's agent Lu also works as Ding's agent. According to him, more and more families now want their children to take up professional sports. Some sports, like tennis and equestrian, are popular among wealthy Chinese. "Many families are already rich, and think they can support their children in pursuing a professional sports career."

China is running away with all the gold medals. America is getting sloppy. Time for team USA to wake up, train harder and do better in 2012.

Michael Phelps will be america's version of china's yao ming except he will be owned completely by corporate america and hollywood controlled media. hehe. Ain't that the truth.