Research on the Development Cooperation of Marathon between China and Ethiopia ()
1. Introduction
Marathon is an advantageous sports event in Africa. In the whole process of Sino African sports cooperation, exchange and development, it is of great significance to explore the development and cooperation between China and African countries. Learning from and absorbing the advantages of African countries in the development of marathon will promote the development of marathon in China. It is necessary to explore the positive significance of China Egypt marathon development cooperation in China Africa sports cooperation and exchange. Under this background, it is necessary to deeply study the current situation of China Egypt marathon cooperation and its positive impact on China and Egypt in marathon sports and sports related industries, so as to contribute to the development and exchange of China Africa sports cooperation. On the basis of combing and summarizing the respective marathon development history of China and Ethiopia, this paper summarizes and expounds the important significance of the development cooperation of Marathon between China and Ethiopia, and plays a role in promoting the realization of the win-win and mutually beneficial goals of sports cooperation between the two countries. Finally, the research results of Sino Egyptian marathon development cooperation have important implications for the cooperation and development of other sports between China and African countries, and also have reference significance for the cooperation and exchange of sports between countries in the global field.
2. A Historical Review of the Development of Marathon in China
2.1. The Upsurge of Marathon Events in China
With the vigorous development of national fitness activities, in recent years, running has become one of the activities with the highest participation in national fitness. The improvement of marathon performance, the explosive growth in the number of Marathon events, and the increasing social participation all reflect the current situation of the rapid development and rapid improvement of the overall level of marathon in China in recent years. Since the first Beijing international marathon was launched in Tiananmen Square in 1981, the Chinese marathon has opened a new page. After 2011, the number of Marathon events in China began to grow rapidly. In October, 2014, the State Council issued several opinions on accelerating the development of sports industry and promoting sports consumption, which raised national fitness as a national strategy [1]. China’s sports industry has ushered in a blowout development, and marathon has also embarked on the road of rapid development in the wave of reform. The scale and classification of Marathon events are strictly divided according to the evaluation standards of domestic and international marathon events. CAA is the Chinese Athletic Association, the China Athletics Association, or “China Athletics Association” for short. The CAA circular logo indicates that the event has been registered by the China Athletics Association and has become a registered event of the China Athletics Association. In addition to the rating of gold, silver and bronze medals, CAA will also divide the events into class A (A1, A2) events and class B events. The certification of class is the event marks that the event has reached the performance certification standard of China Association of Athletics in the track, timing, referee, doping detection and other competition organization work and core technical links. Only the event results certified by the China National Association of athletics and the international Athletics Federation can be included in the performance rankings of marathons and related sports of the China National Association of athletics and the international Athletics Federation, and can be applied for national, Asian and world records. CAA will score strictly according to the rating standards of the event every year, and the event will determine the corresponding level according to the specific score obtained, that is, the gold medal, silver medal and bronze medal, and will be released at the annual marathon annual meeting. As shown in Table 1, the number of marathons held in China from 2018 to 2019 and their corresponding classifications are counted in the official big data on the official website of China Marathon. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 in 2020, the marathon has not returned to its normal scale.
In addition, the official data of the China Athletics Association in 2018 shows, the number of Marathon events in China in 2014 was 51, increased to 130 in 2015, 328 registered events in 2016, more than 500 registered events in 2017, and more than 800 registered events in 2020. From the change in the number of registered events, we can see that there is a huge space for the future development of China’s marathon industry [2]. The host cities and types of events are increasing. Not only Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and other brand events that have been held for many years, but also Hefei, Qinhuangdao, Yinchuan and other emerging marathon events that have just been held. The holding of Marathon events has driven the development of relevant sports industries and cultural industries, which in turn has promoted the development of marathon. The two complement each other. China’s marathon sports show a steady and rapid development trend. However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 in 2020, the development of the registered marathon in China in 2020 has stagnated and is still in the process of recovery.
2.2. African Athletes Are Invited to Participate in the Chinese Marathon
As developing countries, China and African countries have many things in common. In the context of globalization, with the deepening of exchanges, we have formed a friendly relationship of the same breath and the same destiny [3]. In recent years, the formation of China Africa sports cooperation community
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Table 1. Number and classification of Marathon events in China from 2018 to 2019.
has further deepened China Africa sports exchanges. In 1957, sports exchanges between new China and African countries began. In July of the same year, the Republic of Sudan, which had just won independence for one year, sent a national football team to China to play games, creating the history of the first visit to new China by sports envoys from the African continent. Under the background of the “the Belt and Road” policy and national fitness, China Africa sports exchanges have brought the development and future of various sports exchanges and cooperation to the Chinese and African people, while the holding of the Chinese marathon has brought opportunities to African athletes. In recent years, the number of Marathon events in China has developed rapidly, especially the top ten international marathon events in China (as shown in Table 2). The category, scale and quality of events have been greatly improved, attracting a large number of African athletes to participate in China. Friends from Africa can always be seen in international marathons held all over the country. The 2019 Lanzhou International Marathon and “healthy China” marathon series started at Lanzhou station. The Chinese marathon showed its burgeoning passion and vitality to the world. The world also saw the vigorous vitality of China’s urban construction and sports development.
3. Development of Ethiopian Marathon
3.1. Ethiopia’s Marathon Performance Is Excellent
As a country tied with Kenya as the “hometown of long-distance running” in Africa, Ethiopia marathon has a long history, strong strength, outstanding performance in the world, and has repeatedly achieved excellent results in various Olympic Games and major marathon events. They have won the Olympic Games for many times, as shown in Table 3. Since 1960, Abebe Biquira, Ethiopia’s “barefoot Fairy”, won the marathon champion in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. He was the first African to win the gold medal, and won the marathon champion four years later at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Since then, the Ethiopians have continued to win the championship in various large-scale marathon events. In the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Ethiopian Wald won the men’s gold medal. In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Ethiopian athlete IFT became the double champion of the men’s 5000 meter and 10,000 meter events. In terms of women, Ethiopian athletes Roba and grana won the women’s marathon champion of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and the 2012 London Olympic Games; Abela, a 22-year-old Ethiopian, won the women’s marathon at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and was the youngest marathon champion in history at that time.
In addition to outstanding performance in the Olympic Games, as shown in Table 4 Ethiopian World Marathon six grand slam championship record table, from 2010 to 2020, Ethiopian people also won the World Marathon six grand slam Championship several times. In general, in participating in the Olympic Games and other world-class marathon competitions, even if they did not win the championship, the marathon results of Ethiopian athletes are also world-renowned.
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Table 2. Ranking of China’s top ten international marathon events.
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Table 3. Record of ethiopian olympic marathon.
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Table 4. Record of six grand slam events of ethiopian world marathon (2010-2020).
3.2. Reasons for the Good Development of Ethiopian Marathon
The excellent performance of Ethiopian marathon athletes is related to their superior physical conditions, high altitude terrain, local marathon tradition, backward local economy and other factors. First of all, the body shape of the local people: African black people have a long body, high fiber in their muscles, good endurance, and narrow hips compared with other people, which also reduces the air resistance. Therefore, black athletes are more likely to achieve results after scientific training. Ethiopia’s long-distance runners have long “bird like” long legs, which are light and powerful; Secondly, in terms of terrain, the southern part of Ethiopia is located in the East African plateau, with an altitude of about 3000 meters. The terrain is rugged, with many mountains and thin air. The local people live in poverty, usually barefoot, and are good at walking and running. The special terrain of the plateau has cultivated the local people’s unique endurance to work and hypoxia, so some coaches like to select children there for training, creating a large number of excellent middle and long-distance runners and creating a miracle of the world’s middle and long-distance running; The local economy is also an important reason for the outstanding long-distance running of the Ethiopians. The local economy is backward. Because many marathon races have rich bonuses, running has also become a shortcut for the Ethiopians to get rid of poverty. The Ethiopians actively participate in the marathon races and repeatedly achieve good results [4]. Take kebaide, the third runner up in the 2008 Beijing Olympic marathon, as an example. According to the New York Times, before joining the long-distance training camp in 2005, the 18-year-old earned less than $1 a day by collecting firewood and herding cattle and sheep. A few years later, he won the Paris marathon in 2008 and the London Marathon in 2010, earning US $200,000 in prize money alone. In addition, long-distance runners are highly respected in Ethiopia, comparable to American baseball or basketball stars, especially in the global “marathon fever”. Steve Jones, the former world record holder of marathon in Britain, commented that the marathon has replaced the one mile race in the past and become the most popular “blue ribbon event” in track and field. It is “a shortcut to fame and glory. You just need to run a good race and you can expect to be invited to participate in the next half of your life”. Under the influence of many factors, the development trend of marathon in Ethiopia is good.
3.3. Marathon in Ethiopia
Ethiopia has a strong marathon cultural atmosphere. A large number of Marathon events are held every year, such as the Ethiopian marathon Olympic trials, the great international 10 K race, “hailegebrselassie marathon”, the great Ethiopian race, etc., as shown in Table 5. Among them, the Ethiopian Olympic marathon is a marathon show in the local area, which is held to select athletes for the Olympic Games; The Ethiopian grand international 10K race is the local flagship race since 2001. Since 45,000 participants, it has become the largest road
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Table 5. Marathon events held in Ethiopia.
race in Africa. It is called “the most exciting competition in the world”, attracting participants from all over the world; “Hailegebrselassie marathon” is the first international marathon event held in Ethiopia. On October 20, 2013, in hawasa, the capital of Ethiopia, this event attracted many people to the “hometown of runners”―hovasa. 350 participants gathered in Ethiopia’s runner’s hometown to participate in the country’s first international marathon, organized by track and field legend hailegebrselassie. Gebrselassie, the organizer who broke the marathon record twice and won the 10,000 m Olympic champion, said: “believe me, we can generate more popularity. We can generate more marathon athletes, more Olympic champions, world champions and world record holders”.
The success of the marathon is closely related to the marathon venue. Ethiopia is known as one of the best long-distance training places in Africa because of its high altitude and consistent sunny weather―often referred to as the “sunny land for 13 months” only neighboring Kenya can match it. The holding of the event is part of the overall improvement of Ethiopian track and field sports. In the past two years, the new world-class training center and a series of competitions that have attracted people from all over the world have made Ethiopian track and field sports icing on the cake.
4. China Egypt Exchanges Promote the Development of China Marathon
4.1. Ethiopian Marathon Runners Go to China to Promote the Development of Chinese Events
Since the 1980s, the reform and opening-up policy has brought great vitality to China’s sports cause. Some sports teams from European and American sports powers have come to China one after another and Chinese sports teams have also made frequent visits. Such exchanges have opened the eyes of the Chinese people and greatly promoted the improvement of China’s sports level. The establishment of the Olympic strategy with winning the Olympic gold medal as the core makes China’s sports vision turn more to the western sports developed countries [3]. Africa enjoys a high reputation for its ultra-high marathon level in the world. Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya and other countries have a number of world-famous long-distance runners. Therefore, almost every time China holds an international marathon, several African marathon elite athletes will be invited to participate, including a large number of Ethiopian athletes. Their participation in China has greatly promoted the development of China’s marathon race. First of all, from the perspective of the race, their participation has improved the overall level of the race, promoted more Chinese people’s understanding of the marathon race, and made more Chinese people fall in love with the sport of “running a marathon”. It can be found from the fact that countless enthusiastic spectators applaud and cheer for them during each race. Secondly, for athletes, the participation of Ethiopian athletes in China has created a platform for Chinese marathon athletes to improve their performance. They can compete with Ethiopian high-level athletes and have more opportunities to participate in high-level competition, which is conducive to finding gaps in the competition and achieving improvement. Finally, in terms of funds, compared with the large amount of overseas participation expenses of Chinese marathon athletes, it is more economical for Ethiopian athletes to participate in China, and it is conducive to Chinese athletes to get opportunities to learn, exercise and increase competition experience in various aspects at home.
4.2. Chinese Coaches and Athletes Exchange and Study in Ethiopia
With the rise of Marathon fever in China, the exchanges between China and Egypt have become increasingly close according to the needs of development. In recent years, China has successively sent marathon coaches and athletes to Egypt for exchange and learning. By sending athletes to Egypt for training and introducing coaches from Egypt, China’s marathon performance has been improved [5]. In 2014, for the first time, China sent three coaches to Ethiopia for training: Coach Gesang from Tibet, coach Han Gang from Sichuan and coach Liu Bao from Inner Mongolia. Since then, China has successively sent coaches and athletes to Ethiopia for marathon exchange and learning. Not only the athletes themselves have gained a lot, but also the coaches have found a training method close to the world’s top level. Let the coaches go to Ethiopia for exchange and learning. The coach’s training methods are more scientific and diversified, so that the athletes can get exercise and improve their performance quickly. Gesanziren, coach of the Chinese track and field team, said: “good results benefit from systematic training”. The Chinese marathon team went to Africa for training and invited top marathon coaches to teach. This shows that the senior management of the China Association of athletics is trying to make a breakthrough in the marathon project and change the embarrassing situation that the mass amateur training of the marathon project is in full swing, but there are few outstanding young people in the professional field and the results are not good. China’s track and field, especially the sprint and long jump, have made breakthroughs in recent years which are closely related to vigorously going out and inviting in [5]. According to taoshaoming, a famous marathon coach, since 2018, a large number of athletes have gone abroad to receive high-level training in Africa, Europe and other places, and competed with the world’s top athletes such as kipchaug and beckler. Since December 2019, the national marathon team has carried out winter training in batches at home and abroad according to the training plan. Dobujie, sorang Cairen, mijuenima and Danmu zhenciwang went to Ethiopia to train with Haji, a famous Ethiopian coach of middle and long distance running. The training lasted for 12 weeks.
4.3. Chinese Runners Compete in the Marathon in Ethiopia
Many factors, such as the improvement of people’s material living conditions, the level of spiritual pursuit and convenient transportation, have provided good conditions for Chinese runners to participate in the marathon in Ethiopia. With the development of economic globalization, China and Egypt have increasingly close economic and cultural exchanges. Today, more than 100,000 Chinese people work and live in Ethiopia. China has convenient e-visas to go to Ethiopia. The convenient visa has created favorable conditions for Chinese runners to participate in the pilgrimage to Ethiopia. In recent years, more and more Chinese runners have gone abroad to experience the unique charm of world high-level events. Ethiopia’s unique marathon conditions, unique marathon spirit and huge Chinese population in Ethiopia have attracted a large number of Chinese marathon runners to Ethiopia to participate in the marathon. Among them, the “great Egypt race” is known as a long-distance race event that “feels the happiest in the world”. Since Ethiopia held the “great Egypt race” event for the first time in 2000, it has become one of the most well-known and most expected long-distance races. On the day of the 17th “great Egypt race” in 2017, the “long-distance running emperor” gebresilasiye specially accepted an interview with reporters, and hoped to send an invitation to Chinese runners through Chinese media, and more Chinese runners are welcome to participate at any time. In recent years, a large number of Chinese figures have participated in each great Egypt race. Figure 1 is a photo of Marathon enthusiasts from China participating in the great Egypt race in 2018. On the left is the contestant from Shanghai, in the middle is the contestant from Beijing and Shenzhen, and on the left is the group photo of Haile gebreselassie, a famous Ethiopian marathon athlete, and Chinese marathon lovers.
5. China Egypt Sports Exchanges Promote the Development of Ethiopian Marathon
5.1. Chinese Events Provide a Platform for Ethiopian Marathon Runners
Since 2011, the holding of Marathon events in China has increased rapidly. With the strong support and encouragement of governments at all levels, and under the influence of the social atmosphere of “national fitness”, the marathon is gradually spreading to all cities across the country, constantly affecting the law and rhythm of modern people’s life, and has changed from “minority” sports to “mass” sports as we all know [2]. Not only that, China’s local marathon has moved from domestic to international stage. The holding of these events has provided a broad platform for international runners who love marathon. Ethiopia, which has close exchanges with China, has benefited from this platform.
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Figure 1. Photos of Chinese marathon enthusiasts participating in the great Egypt race.
As an important stop on the “the Belt and Road” line, Ethiopia exports a large number of athletes to participate in China’s marathon every year and win prizes. The enthusiasm of the Chinese people and rich competition awards has attracted a large number of Ethiopian marathon runners to participate in the marathon held in China. Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, summarized in a sentence: “the market is too small, and China is too big”. He told the cover reporter of West China Metropolis Daily that the Chinese market is still growing and they have put China in the first place. This shows the importance of the “the Belt and Road” and China’s strategy to Ethiopia. China Africa exchanges are a great advantage. There are 100,000 Chinese in Ethiopia. In tewolde’s view, the rising Chinese running fever is also the link point of the spirit of China and Africa: “running is the symbol of Ethiopia. We have been running, tenacious and will not give up”. In the context of globalization, the rapid development of Chinese sports events plays an important role in promoting the realization of win-win and mutually beneficial sports cooperation between the two countries.
5.2. Chinese Runners Promote the Development of Ethiopian Marathon and Sports Tourism
The marathon will bring infinite business opportunities and income to the host city, and promote consumption growth, and inject nutrition and power into the prosperity and development of the city [6]. In the process of continuous integration of the marathon industry in Ethiopia, the main event industry integrates other related industries and develops towards the “whole industry chain” [6]. Egypt has carried out the “sports + tourism” mode by holding marathon events. This mode will attract a large number of Marathon enthusiasts and people to pay attention to and participate in it. Most of them are Chinese runners. The huge flow of people has created good conditions for local races to promote tourism and played an important role in stimulating local consumption. Gebreselassie once said: “I hope to attract leisure runners from abroad, so as to promote the running culture and provide foreigners with opportunities to visit Ethiopia”. It can be seen that international exposure is crucial to changing Ethiopia’s image.
Holding a marathon is a review of the strength of the city. The successful holding of the marathon is inseparable from the joint efforts of the relevant government departments. In the process of organizing the marathon, the public security, health and planning, transportation and other departments cooperate with each other to promote the city’s cooperation ability, help the city improve its public service ability, expand people’s sense of identity with the government departments, and hold the marathon, It can also display the city’s style and features in an all-round way. Citizens have a new understanding of their city’s history and culture, which enhances the identity of urban residents and plays a certain role in enriching the cultural life of urban residents. Marathon is not only a sport, but also a culture. It contains the spirit of challenging oneself, transcending limits, perseverance, etc. at the same time, it is also closely combined with urban culture, public welfare culture, volunteer culture, etc., which can be transformed into positive social energy, making civilization more progressive and people’s life better [7]. Chinese runners have greatly promoted the development of Marathon events and sports tourism in Ethiopia by jointly holding marathons and participating in competitions in Ethiopia. In 2018, the first China Africa Joint Ethiopian Great Rift Valley marathon was hosted by the Ethiopian Ministry of tourism and Hunan Provincial Department of Commerce, jointly hosted by China, the mainland and overseas, and co-sponsored by PKU 100871 running group and Ethiopian RIA event company. In addition to the opportunity created by the cooperation between the two countries, the development advantage of the local marathon has also created good conditions for the realization of the “sports + tourism” model. On the way to the competition, participants can have a glance at the local geological features, overlook the local sugarcane fields and river valleys, and beautify Ethiopia’s international image to a certain extent. Anniedelp, a 38 year old from northern Ethiopia, came from the United States to participate in the half marathon and paid a ten day visit to Ethiopia. She once said that “this will change everything, because people don’t know how beautiful Ethiopia is, how sweet people are, how wonderful food is, and there are too many.” coincidentally, Simon Newton, 35, had a “running trip” in Ethiopia before taking part in Sunday’s marathon race. He called it “great”. His evaluation of the Haile Gebrselassie race is the “most enjoyable race” he has participated in. These phenomena are sufficient to illustrate the success of this event. The Chinese runners’ promotion of the vigorous development of Ethiopia’s marathon and sports tourism and other related industries is the result of the strategic cooperation and exchange between China and Ethiopia track and field associations.
6. Conclusion
Marathon is an important channel for people to people and sports exchanges between China and Ethiopia. China Ethiopia marathon exchanges have played an important role in promoting China Egypt sports and cultural exchanges and promoting the development of marathon in China. Under the guidance of relevant national policies, China has implemented the strategy of “going out and bringing in” and promoted the development of China’s marathon cause through the introduction of Marathon talents, the holding of Marathon events, and the exchange and learning of coaches and athletes from Egypt. In a word, it is a win-win, mutually beneficial and important measure for China and Ethiopia to strengthen marathon sports exchanges between China and Ethiopia and even China and Africa on the international stage in the context of globalization. On the one hand, it helps to improve the level of marathon in China and the international status of marathon, and promotes the development of relevant chain industries in China, such as sports tourism, sports clothing, sports equipment, etc; On the other hand, it is conducive to the development of Ethiopian marathon. The holding of the Chinese marathon provides a platform for Ethiopia. In addition, Ethiopia attracts tourists through its local marathon advantages and carries out the “sports + tourism” mode. The Chinese tourists to Ethiopia have helped promote Ethiopia’s economic development to a certain extent. However, while China has a strong marathon atmosphere and the marathon event has shown a blowout growth momentum, how to achieve the sustainable development of China’s marathon and how to ensure the quality of the marathon event remains to be solved. In addition, the exploration process of the future development path of China Egypt marathon cooperation and exchange will be long. The Sino Egyptian marathon cooperation and exchange is an important branch of the Sino Egyptian sports and cultural exchanges and even the Sino African sports exchanges. Its related research has reference significance for the cooperation and exchange of sports and culture between China and Egypt and China and Africa, which needs to be explored in the future.
7. Research Deficiencies and Prospects
As a global and widely carried out sport, marathon can promote physical and mental exercise and the spread of sports spirit. The holding of Marathon events can not only lead a good atmosphere of national fitness for the host country, but also play a great role in promoting the development and popularity of the city, but also improve the activity organization ability and emergency support ability of the city. This study uses the methods of literature and news material collection to sort out and summarize the historical context of Sino Egyptian marathon development cooperation and exchange. Although it has certain results, the research method is relatively simple, and the collected materials and data are not comprehensive due to the restriction of access channels. In future related research, richer research methods can be used, And more extensive channels to obtain official data, which is conducive to more accurate results.
NOTES
*Zhang Jianli was born in 1975 and he is now an associate professor of Zhejiang Normal University with a Ph.D degree.