Some people are afraid that the Chinese would become arrogant because of the gold medal harvest. So they deliberately play down the significance of great achievements. Indeed, gold medals can't prove that China's national strength has surpassed the United States, but at least it reflects China's great investments in sports and the hard work of athletes and coaches. If we do not recognize their achievements, it's unfair.

To keep a clear mind amidst rapid economic growth is great, but criticism should not go too far.

We must realize that China's sports system needs improvement and reform. In the United States, gold medal winners are trained by clubs or independent coaches and rely on corporate sponsorship. They make sports a profitable industry, which offers many people job opportunities and greatly improves the country's sports level. In China, athletes are supported by the government and the efficiency is relatively low. However, China's lead in the gold medal tally at least proves that it's possible for China to surpass former sporting powers as long as it tries hard.

Home ground advantage

Wang Jie (www.eastday.com): First of all, we must realize the advantage of being Olympic host helped tremendously in the gold medal haul. The Chinese athletes did not have to spend a lot of time on travel. They were more familiar with the stadiums and facilities than athletes from other countries. They would also feel more used to the life in Beijing and they had huge crowd support. All these favorable factors should not be neglected. We have to ponder over this question: Is the Chinese delegation able to rank first without these advantages?

To be frank, most of China's Olympic champions are the products of intensive training. They grew up in a condition without regular education. It's no exaggeration to say that China's sports development follows a polarized model: excessive emphasis on medals, little emphasis on the whole population's health; excessive emphasis on the cultivation of an elite group of medal hopefuls in sports meetings of various levels, little emphasis on ordinary people and mass sports and fitness events.

Therefore, the challenge now is how to boost the attraction of mass sports and fitness activities, for the people to enjoy sports in their daily life, to widely improve the whole nation's health and to train more sports reserve talents. To make China into a real sports giant needs continuous efforts.

Wang Chong (International Herald Tribune): While China is doing well in the Olympic medal competition, the development of mass sports and fitness activities in the country seems to be falling behind. The physical quality of Chinese adolescents is reportedly far worse than those in the United States, as well as neighboring Japan and South Korea.

Since 1985, China has carried out four surveys on the physical conditions of the country's adolescents. According to the results, the obesity rate has risen by five times among Chinese youth in the past two decades. The 1995 survey found Japanese adolescents were better than Chinese in terms of nourishment and physical growth.

These statistics show that what count are not only Olympic gold medals, but also gold medals in real life. In China, the most popular entertainment includes mahjong (a kind of dominoes), karaoke and big dinners, while in Western countries, mountaineering, skiing, bicycling are popular.

We are now able to host the Olympics and the growing number of gold medals reflects China's remarkable sports strength. So as we no longer need to prove how powerful Chinese athletes are, it is time to shift the emphasis to mass sports and the physical fitness of adolescents.