Team China warmly welcomed in Paris

Gao Zhidan (first from right), director of China's General Administration of Sport, leads a team of Chinese Olympic Committee officials who landed at Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport on July 22, 2024. (Photo: Xinhua)

On Monday evening local time, the Olympic delegation of the Chinese mainland arrived in Paris, officially kicking off their pursuit for greatness in the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games.

Led by director of China's General Administration of Sport Gao Zhidan, a team of Chinese Olympic Committee officials and Chinese athletes landed at the French capital's Charles de Gaulle Airport at around 6 pm Monday. With this arrival, most of the delegation members have been in Paris, with only a few expected to join them later on.

Team China will be represented by 405 athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics to be held from July 26 to August 11. The delegation includes 136 male and 269 female athletes, competing in 236 events across 30 sporting events at the Paris Games, a historical high in events featuring Team China in overseas Olympics.

Athletes and supporting officials of some events, including table tennis, badminton, swimming, and women's volleyball, arrived ahead of the delegation for adaptive training, as their events are scheduled to start early in the Games, a track and field coach with the Chinese delegation told the Global Times on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.

Many other athletes and officials have, however, not yet arrived as their events are scheduled for later on in the tournament, including the track and field events, said the above-quoted coach. "They are currently training in China, preparing themselves for the Olympics as much as they can."

The Chinese delegation members arriving in Paris were warmly welcomed by the local Chinese community. One of the most popular teams, the Chinese table tennis team, arrived in Paris on July 15 and trained in the suburbs of Paris before officially moving into the Olympic Village, a Chinese student surnamed Chen studying in Paris told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"When the athletes landed in Paris, hundreds of people spontaneously went to the airport to welcome them, holding signs and cheering for them. The atmosphere was very lively," Chen said. "In the following days, many fans went to the training base to cheer for them."

At the same time, videos circulating on the internet showed that the Chinese badminton team and the Chinese women's volleyball team arriving at the new Paris airport were also given a warm reception.

On Tuesday morning local time, the delegation of China's Hong Kong SAR also arrived in Paris. The Chinese Taipei delegation arrived earlier on Saturday, two days after the Paris Olympic Village officially opened its doors on Thursday.

Around 10,500 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees and the Refugee Olympic Team will compete at the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games, and most of them will stay in the village alongside the Saine River.

According to the photos and reports released by the media, the Chinese team's residence is a high-rise building in the village. All the windows of the building are decorated with five-star red flags -China's national flags, and there is a banner with the words "Go China!" The panda pattern on the banner is vivid and cute, as if the panda is poking its head out of the wall.

With just a few days to go before the opening of the Games, the Paris 2024 Olympics has become one of the most discussed topics among Chinese netizens, with discussions related to the Olympics consistently trending on China's X-like social networking platform Sina Weibo. Netizens have also shown enthusiasm when discussing the preparations and prospects of the Chinese athletes, the perseverance of veteran athletes, the impressive performances of young athletes, as well as touching and inspiring sports stories.

China has consistently finished in the top three positions in the Olympic medals tally since the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and this trend is expected to continue in Paris. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, China finished second behind the US. For Paris 2024, China is projected to finish second in total medals and should challenge the US for first place in gold medals, according to Nielsen Gracenote's latest Virtual Medal Table (VMT) forecast.

In the meantime, China's young forces are also expected to attract widespread attention in Paris. Many Gen Z athletes are aiming at medals in emerging Olympic sports such as breakdancing, sport climbing, skateboarding, and surfing.

Zheng Haohao, the 11-year-old skateboarder, has already made history by becoming China's youngest Olympian. Looking ahead to the Paris Games, Zheng told the Xinhua News Agency that the Olympics will be the least stressful part for her. "Participating in the Olympics means more people will get to know me. I started skateboarding just to make new friends and have fun," she said.