You would get a huge uptake if they were allowed to bet on it[}:)].
Unfortunately many people don't know how to swim. Not that they would be stopped by that. As with driving there is a great deal of interest but the collateral damage is 100,000 lives a year.

The Chinese newly wealthy are flying to Germany renting big Mercs and tearing up the autobahn. Do you want thousands of speed tourists invading Hardies??!! (Not including the pinnas)

Did a quick calculation China road death toll 1 in 15,000 , australia 1 in 20,000.
Not too bad for a country where many would be first generation car owners

hardie said...

With a gold medal in windsurfing, can china exploit it's huge population and become a windsurfing superpower?

Will windsurfing companies take advantage? What a market!!

Well have proven that with a little home ground advantage, a lot of quality drugs and making agents, biased judging and the threat of a bullet if you don't perform ..... you can win the Olympics!

Anyone see the trap shooting where the judge called 3 clear misses as hits for the Chinese shooter? Hmmm.....

I've been to China a couple of times and lived in Hong Kong on and off. I have never seen anyone windsurfing or anything related to windsurfing in China. On the other hand I've seen many people windsurfing in Hong Kong.

As Davmen says, Chinese are too busy getting ahead to spend time on something like windsurfing or snow skiing. However as they get richer some people will want to slow down and get a hobby. Something like windsurfing would be perfect if there is a lake or coastline nearby. It would be exclusive enough to keep out the riff raff and be generally good for health.

Many younger modern Chinese has nothing besides money. They have no god, they have no spiritual belief. They have no political belief. All they believe in is making and spending money.

would anyone actually want to windsurf on a chinese lake/river/bay?!?!?

Mark _australia said...

I thought most of China has no wind most of the time anyway?

And re: my previous post, China's Olympic results:

2008 1st

2004 2nd (by a long way, USA 102, China 63)

2000 3rd (by a long way, USA 2nd with 91 and China 3rd with 59)

1996 4th (by a long way, half as many medals as above)

1992 4th (again, half as many medals)

1988 11th (not even half, about 1/4 as many medals)

Big jump up this time.... hmmmm

Investment?????!!!

leftfield said...

Mark _australia said...

I thought most of China has no wind most of the time anyway?

And re: my previous post, China's Olympic results:

2008 1st

2004 2nd (by a long way, USA 102, China 63)

2000 3rd (by a long way, USA 2nd with 91 and China 3rd with 59)

1996 4th (by a long way, half as many medals as above)

1992 4th (again, half as many medals)

1988 11th (not even half, about 1/4 as many medals)

Big jump up this time.... hmmmm

Investment?????!!!

Perhaps..... but unlikely I think. This is like an already top windsurfer or triathlete or swimmer (whatever) halving his time around a course due to extra money or training? Nah I don't buy it. Top athletes / teams improve by 10% max ..... this is the same as if the world record for 100m was 10 sec, and the guy who came second for the last few years suddenly runs 8sec when his mate holds the stopwatch.

I'm pretty sure we won't see a Chinese man on the podium in 2012.

Aichen Wang (CHN-1) is one of the best RSX lightwind sailors on the planet - no arguments there. He is a pumping machine and extremely lightweight (I've heard rumours of 58kg) even though he is relatively tall for a Chinese male.

Problem is. He gets PUNISHED when the wind is above 10 knots. Have a look at his results in Beijing... www.sailing.org/olympics/resultscentre.php

Race 6,7,8 were the windy races with planing conditions (by windy I mean 8 knots or so). You can tell they were windy because Dutchman Casper Bouman got 1,1,2 in these races as he's for sure the fastest RSX sailor on the planet in planing conditions... even faster than Tom Ashley (NZL-1). Aichen couldn't get in the top 10 in any of these races...

Not to say that he's not a 'good' sailor in planing conditions (wow, I'd be happy with a Top 20 result in any race at the Olympics) ... just to say he's not going to 'win' races in planing conditions...

London has an imposed wind minimum of 6 knots for the 2012 Games, and for sure its going to be PLENTY windy in Weymouth then...

My 0.02c

But yes, this is most likely relative to how much $$$ you put in to sport. My gymnast friends tell me the amount of money China put in to their Gymnastics team this year was so incredible, Russia wasn't even in the ballpark with them.

Imagine how much England is going to spend on its Olympic sailing team in the next 4-years... I think we'll most likely see Brits on the podium in both male/female windsurfing ... but we'll see...

Most of my windsurfing friends are Chinese, (Singaporean Chinese, that is) and there are some very very very capable and hardcore sailors among them. Some go to Australia, Hawaii, Taiwan, Vietnam, Bali etc often, as local conditions are not exactly wonderful.....

Taiwan's Penghu Islands are reknowned as being one of the windiest windsurfing spots on earth - all the more reason for China to invade Taiwan, although I hope they never do...

It's too bad about the Chinese government. I know some really nice people from mainland China and they are totally brainwashed - for example, you mention censorship, and they say "oh, the government checks the news for us and makes sure we only get the truth - because the western media is so biased" - they are actually grateful for censorship; their governent actually PROTECTS them...

Mobydisc said...

Is the RSX going to be the Olympic windsurfing class for the next Olympics?

Not if Starboard have anything to do with it. They have submitted a new style cheaper lighter kit for consideration, Oh and did I mention cheaper, they indicate at least 1/3 less than current set up price.
Oh and I have only JP boards, but like the look of what they are proposing from Starboard stable.