In August 1952, He Long, who was working in Chongqing, suddenly received a call from Deng Xiaoping. After a chat with him, the other party directly said: "The Council of Government has decided to form the Central Sports Committee. I suggest you be the director."
He Long was surprised when he heard this. He led soldiers on the battlefield all the year round. He was used to commanding battles. Now he is going to contact a relatively unfamiliar field. I wonder if it can be done. After hesitating for a while, He Long asked Deng Xiaoping: "What did the chairman say?" After getting the affirmative answer, he obliged to accept the task.
So why does the country have to choose He Long as the director of the Sports Commission? Next, how did he develop China's long-awaited sports career?
Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China’s sports industry can be said to be "a blank". As early as 1932, Los Angeles held the 10th Olympic Games. The All China Sports Association did not intend to participate because of lack of money. Later, I heard that the Puppet Manchukuo was going to send people over, so they hurriedly sent Song Junfu to bring Liu Changchun over.
However, because the road was too long and the journey was very bumpy, waited for them to reach Los Angeles, and before they had a good rest, they hurried to the arena again. As a result, Liu Changchun was eliminated in the preliminary round.
In 1936, the eleventh Olympic Games was held in Berlin, Germany. China sent 69 people there. Only one person passed the preliminaries and failed the final. And when they returned to China via Singapore, the local newspapers deliberately published cartoon satire, calling the Chinese delegation "Sick Man of East Asia" .
July 1948,London, England is about to host the Olympic Games. China is preparing to send people to participate, but it is once again in an awkward situation due to lack of funds. At that time, Wang Zhengting and Zhang Boling, in charge of sports work, went to various places to raise money for the Chinese delegation. The yamen ran for nearly 40 times before it was considered to have raised a little bit.
After arriving in London, the whole group could only board in a local elementary school. The food was extremely poor and even meat was rarely eaten. In the end, none of the Chinese players passed the preliminary round.
At that time, the British " Mirror" also published a cartoon, publicly satirizing the Chinese players, saying that they ended with "0" three times in a row. Sadly, the Chinese delegation that was defeated not only I can't refute it, and I'm still worried about not being able to raise the money for the flight back home.
and summing up all the reasons, we can know that China’s sports industry developed to such a situation before the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In addition to the influence of years of war, it was also because there were very few related sports facilities. It can even be said to be crude, so it cannot provide good conditions for athletes.
Fortunately, this situation has not finally improved until after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. After all, Chairman Mao himself loves sports very much. As early as the war era, he had understood that if he wanted to fight against fate and the enemy, he had to change his sickness and have a strong body. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, in order for China to take off the “Sick Man of East Asia”, he must also attach importance to sports.
To this end, Chairman Mao first inscribed the title of the " New Sports " magazine, and called for vigorous development of sports. At the same time, , together with Hu Yaobang and the vice chairman of the All China Sports Federation, Rong Gaotang,Also began to discuss the establishment of a leading organization capable of in charge of national sports.
In 1952, China once again sent a sports delegation to participate in the 15th Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland. Previously, because of interference from the Taiwan authorities, they could not catch up with the opening ceremony, . However, because of the strong support of Premier Zhou Enlai, the Chinese delegation resolutely embarked on the journey and finally left in the 100-meter backstroke competition. 1 minute 12 seconds 3 record.
After returning to China, the All-China National Sports Federation immediately held a meeting to listen to the situation of the Chinese delegation at the Olympic Games, and then discussed how to develop China's sports industry in the future.
After the meeting, they submitted a report to Liu Shaoqi, applying for the establishment of a National Sports Affairs Committee under the Council of Government, and put forward a crucial proposal: "The chairman of the committee, it’s best to ask He Long to do that. A general of
This suggestion was quickly sent to Chairman Mao and other central leaders. It is not known to the outside world how they studied this matter. , But what we can know is that He Long is the person they approve of, which makes people curious. Why is it he?
In fact, He Long has liked to practice martial arts since he was a child. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he made a lot of contributions in sports. At that time, Chairman Mao issued the slogan "Train your body and fight Japan" , He Long Actively responded, and then launched sports in the military.
When seeing revolutionary young students in the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, they always play basketball in their free time.After his enthusiasm was also high, He Long began to plan to set up a basketball team. Later, someone raised an objection, and he replied: "Our army is relatively poor in sports, and the soldiers are not in good health. This is a problem. Life is active!"
Soon the 120th division basketball team was formally established. He Long named it "battle basketball team" and called on more people to join in. The atmosphere between the soldiers became more and more harmonious, the relationship became more and more united, and they often won championships in basketball games with other military regions. In addition to basketball, He Long also proposed to let the soldiers learn to swim, play volleyball, ride horses and climb mountains, etc., to help them master many skills.
After the founding of New China, He Long served as the commander of the Southwest Military Region. It happened that Deng Xiaoping was the political commissar of the Military Region at that time. The two became colleagues and soon began to cooperate in sports. With their efforts, New China's first professional sports team was formally established, and New China's first Class A stadium was successfully completed.
Soon after, He Long brought the combat team of the 120 division into the Southwest Military Region and expanded them to various sports fields. What is unexpected is that he did it again. A pioneering work, , is to put the sports queue into the cadre establishment, and since then coaches and athletes have officially become national cadres.
All of the above show that He Long attaches great importance to China’s sports career, so he is more appropriate to serve as the director of the Sports Commission. Besides, whoever wants to revitalize China’s sports career,Don't you want to do things under him?
Because of this, when the National Sports Federation of China sent this proposal to Chairman Mao and the leaders of the central government, it was quickly approved. As for who should be sent to communicate with He Long, he still has to hand it over after discussion. Deng Xiaoping. Although he has been transferred to Beijing, when he was in the Southwest Military Region, he had become close friends with He Long, which was naturally the most suitable.
One day in August 1952, Deng Xiaoping made a phone call to He Long. After the greeting, he said directly: "Mr. He, I have found a good messenger for you. I wonder if you would like to go out?" He Long replied: "What's wrong, just give your orders!" Deng Xiaoping informed him of the central government's decision, expressing the hope that He Long would go to serve as the first director of the Sports Commission. He had already discussed with Premier Zhou.
He Long hesitated after hearing this, and then he asked: "What about Chairman Mao's opinion?" Deng Xiaoping directly replied: "Chairman Mao also agrees!" Then decisively took over this important task. In December of the same year, Premier Zhou Enlai held a meeting in Zhongnanhai and formally proposed that He Long be the director of the Central Sports Committee, which was unanimously approved.
In fact, many people did not understand this at the time. Some believed that the central government would let a general who had established a great military exploits to engage in sports with no future. It was simply overkill, and some guessed that the central government did not want He Long to continue to manage the army. , There are various theories.
But in fact Chairman Mao attaches great importance to this matter, and He Long is also very willing to take on this important task, and in the following time, he has also worked hard for China's sports industry.
The first thing He Long took office,It is to first set up the sports committee team and select suitable talents . At that time, the central government issued an approval document to determine the establishment of the central sports committee as 239 people. However, at the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, there were only a dozen staff inside the Sports Commission, and these were all transferred from the Communist Youth League.
In addition, under the background of the time, most people think that there is no future in sports and do not want to join in, so it is not easy to raise so many people.
For this reason, when He Long presided over the relevant sports work conference, he proposed to "import people" from the central, regional and military departments. The first thing he wanted was his old subordinates- . "Sports team leader Zhang Zhihuai.
When He Long formed the basketball team earlier, he heard that had a "God Pitcher" named Zhang Zhihuai in the Jizhong Anti-Japanese Base Area , so he managed to transfer him to the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army. It has always been a relationship between superiors and superiors. Now that He Long wants to do sports again, Zhang Zhihuai is naturally the best candidate. Soon after, the Central Sports Commission submitted a report to the Central Propaganda Department, proposing to appoint Zhang Zhihuai as the deputy director of the Cadre Training Department.
Afterwards, He Long contacted Zhang Lianhua and Zhu Debao and other old men one after another, asking them to come and help him, and they also decisively accepted the appointment.
In 1954, the southwestern administrative region was abolished, and He Long went north by boat with a group of cadres. At that time, most of them were preparing to take up positions in other departments in Beijing. No one wanted to enter the Sports Commission, but how could He Long easily let go of the opportunity to persuade them? Woolen cloth? He first spotted the veteran Cai Shufan from Hubei, and after describing to him the prospects of China's sports, he talked to his senior superior Deng Xiaoping and prepared him to serve as the deputy director of the sports committee.
Then there are Zhang Feigou, Wang Lingyuan, Wu Yuesong, Zhang Caizhen and others,Under He Long's kind invitation, they all joined the Sports Commission and assumed important positions.
In addition, He Long has lobbied many people in the Southwest, Central South, North China, and many places in the Northwest. During the period of , he also brought Mr. Dong Shouyi, who had served as a member of the International Olympic Committee, to the past. This will be in the near future. It also greatly contributed to China's legal seat in international sports organizations.
While busy preparing for the cadres of the collective committee, He Long is still considering the establishment of an official organization for the Sports Committee . For this reason, he specifically suggested to Premier Zhou and Deng Xiaoping to establish an organization based on the original Sports Federation. In addition, a house was needed to build the meeting place. After approval, the Mayor of Beijing Peng Zhen directly allocated two houses to the Sports Commission.
At that time, the number of people transferred by He Longxin was a bit too large, and he couldn’t fit so many people for a while. Peng Zhen tried his best to win a few houses. Finally, the Sports Committee of the Central People’s Government was formally established, and it Various internal institutions have also slowly developed. After
, He Long proposed to create Beijing Institute of Physical Education , the Institute of Physical Education, and presided over the construction of Beijing Gymnasium and the Workers' Gymnasium and other related facilities, which provided sufficient training conditions for athletes.
solves the problems of the sports committee and the sports committee. Next, He Long will consider how to train sports talents . Before 1950, China had no physical education academies, no physical education teachers, let alone coaches. But now, the country is paying more and more attention to sports. As the director of the sports committee, He Long naturally has to concentrate on talents. Only when competitive sports are in the forefront can China have a wide-ranging influence in the world.
For this reason, he also went to the Soviet Union to "learn the experience",After tirelessly running through many local cities, he learned that the Soviet Union attaches great importance to competitive sports and is willing to spend energy on training "top" athletes, so he proposed to hire sports experts from the Soviet Union and other countries to teach. Dispatch domestic athletes to study abroad.
In selecting talents, He Long has never set so many qualifications, such as origin and background. Xu Guangbin is a typical example. Earlier he was selected because he had been to Taiwan with his uncle. The members of the national team have always been opposed because of their complicated social relations, but He Long held different opinions on this, and said: "Since he can come back from Taiwan, it means he is patriotic!"
It is the women's volleyball player Cao Qiwei. She is the granddaughter of Cao Rulin. She has a special status. In order to encourage her, He Long wrote a letter specifically, hoping that she can be more positive and motivated. In the end, Cao Qiwei did not live up to his expectations. Hope.
In addition, He Long is also actively playing overseas Fu Qifang and . Rong Guotuan has both played domestic table tennis at this level. It is recognized, and with their participation, the level of Chinese athletes' table tennis has also been greatly improved.
During this period, Fu Qifang also extensively contacted many outstanding overseas athletes, and asked them to return to China to form some important sports teams, . Therefore, throughout the year of 1954, the country’s basketball, volleyball, table tennis, tennis, etc. Football and track and field swimming gymnastics teams have been formed one after another.
He Long dedicated the first half of his life to the revolution,The latter half of his life was entrusted to our country’s sports industry, and worked hard for it. Thanks to his and other sports workers’ efforts, the Chinese have since got rid of the title of "Sick Man of East Asia", and China’s sports industry has also taken a step forward. One step towards a better future.
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