Why does China have 2 Olympic Teams?

Discussion in 'Sports' started by cristiansoldier, Aug 3, 2021.

  1. cristiansoldier

    cristiansoldier Well-Known Member

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    Just a quick question. Why is there a China and a Hong Kong China Olympic team? I tried googling this but the best I found was "one country, two systems” and that did not seem like much of an answer to me. If that is the case why can't the US have a US North and South team or East and West team or even a Republican/Democrat team? Why can't Canada have two teams because they could say "One Country, Two Languages"?
     
  2. perotista

    perotista Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I seen that in the medal standings, China and ROC. For me ROC was a reference to the Republic of China or Taiwan after Mao's communist took over the mainland. I didn't know one was Hong Kong, a city and the other was Mainland China.

    It's been decades since I paid any attention to the Olympics, too political. I just assumed one was Mainland China and the other Taiwan. I only noticed this while checking out the baseball scores on ESPN. I never gave it any thought. Hong Kong huh? Weird.
     
  3. cristiansoldier

    cristiansoldier Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, I understand why Taiwan has a separate team but I don't get why Hong Kong still does. Seems kind of unfair to be allowed to field a second team.
     
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  4. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    WHAAAAT???
    ROC stands for Russian Olympic Committee. Given the doping ban, Russia can't figure as a country so they figure as individual athletes affiliated with the ROC and are forbidden from using the name Russia in jerseys. The ROC has nothing to do with China.
     
  5. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    There is China, and "Chinese Taipei" (that's Taiwan expressed in a PC manner, not to upset China), and Hong Kong, true.

    I suppose it's not so different from what happens in soccer, where the country United Kingdom fields 4 "national" teams, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

    But unlike Perotist thinks, ROC is not the Chinese, it's the Russians.
     
  6. perotista

    perotista Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    ROC has always stood for Republic of China through history after WWII. You had Mao's communist China and the the Republic of China on Taiwan or Nationalist China. First I've heard of ROC standing for Russian Olympic Committee.

    Then again, it's been decades since I watched any Olympics. The Olympics just don't interests me anymore.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan

    Not paying any attention to the Olympics, falling back on the original meaning of ROC as the Republic of China is understandable. At least to me. But thanks for the info.
     
  7. CenterField

    CenterField Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I understand why you made the mistake, but as applied to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, ROC is the Russian team. I'm aware of what the Republic of China is, but I answered in context. This topic is about the Olympics, and ROC in this context is the Russian Olympic Committee. They won 20 gold medals, 27 silver, and 23 bronze, so far (last day of competition is going on).
     
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  8. DEFinning

    DEFinning Well-Known Member Donor

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    Well, Hong Kong, until recently, had not really been part of China, for some time. Great Britain used the area for exporting Chinese tea to England but selling them opium, from their Indian "colony." This led to rampant addiction in China, which the Chinese tried to stop, but were militarily defeated, & so were forced to accept the continued importation of opium as well as to give the British a 99 year lease over Hong Kong, in 1898.

    Had the British just not said anything about it, they would still run Hong Kong today, as China would not have brought up this reminder of their humiliating defeat. But the British thought, "yeah, let's ask the Chinese for another century-long lease, for nothing, just so the paperwork will all be in order." And when the U.K. brought up "renegotiating," the lease, China, of course, said, no thanks, we'll just take it back. So it was transferred back to China in 1997, but still with its Western-style system. Here's a link, for more detailed info:

    https://www.thoughtco.com/china-lea...t=On June 9, 1898, the,trade in tea and opium.

    So the U.S. doesn't really have a basis for the divisions that you suggest. But we do, kind of, have multiple teams, I think: doesn't Puerto Rico send it's own team?

    As for Canada, didn't Quebec actually become semi-autonomous? I think they would be able to make a strong case for their own team. But, since it would end up depriving the current Canadian teams of some valuable players, I don't know that this would leave them better off, medal-wise, even if they would be sending more players.
     
  9. cristiansoldier

    cristiansoldier Well-Known Member

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    I was mildly familiar with the Hong Kong situation but I just assume when it reverted back to China in 1997 they would just merge their athletes with the mainland and only have one team. Shortly after I posted this I saw a Puerto Rico diver at the Olympics and realize I forgot that the US territories field their own teams too. I guess Hong Kong is similar to the US territories.

    You are probably right about Quebec. Canada does not win that many medals so splitting the team probably would not benefit that much with the exception of a few sports like hockey or curling.
     

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