Photo: VCG

A growing number of people have benefited from a diverse range of nationwide public fitness initiatives, while Chinese athletes have notched up new heights on international stage, officials from the General Administration of Sport of China (GASC) said on Tuesday at a press conference about China's achievements in building a leading country in sports during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) held by the State Council Information Office in Beijing.

As of 2024, the total area of sports venues across China reached 4.23 billion square meters, an increase of 1.131 billion square meters compared with the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period. The number of social sports instructors reached 3.71 million, and the proportion of people who regularly participate in physical exercise exceeded 38.5 percent, Gao Zhidan, director of GASC, said at the press conference.

China's athletes have achieved new successes at major international tournaments. By the end of 2024, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, they had won 519 world titles and set 68 world records. They achieved their best-ever results at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, chalked up best overseas results at an Olympics at the Paris 2024 Games, and successfully hosted the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Hangzhou Asian Games, the Harbin Asian Winter Games, the Chengdu FISU World University Games, and the World Games, Gao noted. 

One of the highlights of the achievements in the past five years is the rapid development of outdoor and winter sports across the country, Luo Le, a sports scholar at Beijing University of Chemical Technology, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

The Beijing Winter Olympics and related favorable policies injected momentum into the development of outdoor and winter sports. The number of such sports enterprises has seen a notable increase in recent years, heralding a bullish outlook in the industry and strong demand from the public, Luo noted. 

Successive policy documents have been introduced to boost the ice-and-snow economy and promote the outdoor sports industry. In 2024, online consumption related to outdoor sports in China reached about 200 million purchases, with total spending exceeding 300 billion yuan ($41.8 billion), said Yang Xuedong, director general of the Sports Economy Department of the GASC.

Compared with basketball or badminton, outdoor activities such as cycling and road running have a lower skill threshold, which has made them attractive to many participants, Luo said.

Meanwhile, hosting international sports events also gave residents easy access to venues and facilities. 

On Saturday, the venue for flying disc in Guixi Park at the Chengdu World Games was opened to the public as a dedicated space for residents to play the sport. 

After the World Games, the venues will be put to coordinated use and gradually opened to the public, allowing people to enjoy "sports at their doorstep." All competition equipment purchased will be systematically allocated for elite sports training, youth talent development, mass fitness programs, and the hosting of professional events, the organizers told the Global Times. 

Every year, nationwide fitness-themed activities are carried out throughout the year in a planned manner. These events have become flagship activities that serve as models and catalysts for mass participation, Ding Dong, director general of the Sport for All Department of the GASC, said at the press conference. 

Take the recently concluded 2025 "National Fitness Day" on August 8 as an example. More than 22,000 events were held across the country, attracting over 11 million direct participants, according to Ding. 

Established in 2009, National Fitness Day is an annual celebration that reflects the nation's commitment to health and fitness and honors the legacy of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. 

The currently popular "village tournaments" and "city tournaments" held across the country use sports as a medium to foster a positive atmosphere of mass participation in athletics, encouraging more and more people to step onto the playing field and enjoy the fun of fitness and sports, Ding said.