Hou Zhihui, Luo Shifang and Liu Huanhua from Chenzhou City won three gold medals in three days at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, drawing attention to Chenzhou as a rising sports city. 

 

In the past few days, reporters have visited the southern Hunan to experience the sports craze ignited by the hometown of champions.

 

 

 

In men’s weightlifting on August 10, Liu Huanhua won gold in the 102kg category in his Olympic debut, marking China's first gold in the men's heavyweight division.

 

Observant netizens found that among the six Chinese weightlifters competing in Paris this time, there were three from Chenzhou, Hunan Province, including Hou Zhihui, Luo Shifang and Liu Huanhua, and they all won gold medals. 

 

Liu Huanhua’s mother Deng Shufang told reporters, “In the past, when I raised pigs at home, the buckets were big and heavy, and it was very difficult to lift them. It was Liu Huanhua who helped me lift them. Maybe since then, he showed his talent for weightlifting.” 

 

In 2013, 12-year-old Liu Huanhua was selected by Li Fei, the head coach of the weightlifting team at Jiahe County No.5 Middle School, and began learning weightlifting.

 

Liu Huanhua is not the first weightlifting champion from Jiahe County. As a key school of weightlifting talent training in Hunan Province, Jiahe County No. 5 Middle School has cultivated a group of weightlifting talents such as World Championship champion Deng Jianying, World University Games champion Xiao Minghua, Asian Cup champion Luo Xulin. Jiahe is therefore known as the “cradle of champions”.

 

 

 

Guiyang County is hailed as the hometown of champions. On August 8, Hou Zhihui and Luo Shifang each won a gold medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The topic “world champions coming from Guiyang County” went viral. 

 

Along with world champions from Guiyang County like Li Ping, Yi Siling and Zhang Wangli, students from Guiyang Amateur Sports School have won 464 medals, including 87 international gold medals, 75 national gold medals and 123 provincial gold medals. 

 

Affected by Typhoon Kaemi, Chenzhou suffered from rainstorms and flood. Liu Huanhua hoped his Olympic gold medal could bring more strength to those involved in emergency rescue and disaster relief, so did Hou Zhihui and Luo Shifang. 

 

On the early morning of August 5, the 2024 Asian Men’s U18 Volleyball Champion ended in Isa Town, The Kingdom of Bahrain, and the Chinese team won the championship for the first time in the tournament.

 

 

 

Previously, the U18 men’s volleyball team specially came to Chenzhou for training.

 

The women’s volleyball spirit of brave struggle and never giving up originated from the bamboo shed training hall for the Chinese women’s volleyball team.

 

In the era of material scarcity, all parties in Chenzhou only took 43 days to build a bamboo shed training hall to welcome women’s volleyball players.

 

From 1979 and 1981, the Chinese women’s volleyball team came to Chenzhou for training for three consecutive years. 

 

The spirits of the women’s volleyball team, like a beam of light, is illuminating the path forward for sports in Chenzhou.

 

 

 

Since 1990, 11 counties (cities and districts) in Chenzhou City have taken turns to host the municipal primary and secondary school sports games, prompting the hosts to build and update sports venues and facilities, resulting in the emergence of star schools such as Guiyang County No.3 Middle School.

 

In 2012, the city government started to build a sports city. In 2022, the city focused on building a famous sports city, and introduced a large number of high-level sports events.

 

In May of this year, Yao Ming, the president of the Chinese Basketball Association, attended the press conference of the 2024 Men’s National Basketball League and visited the bamboo shed training hall for the Chinese women’s volleyball team in Chenzhou.

 

At the 2024 Lin Dan Cup Badminton Open, badminton champions Lin Dan, Xie Xingfang and others gathered in Chenzhou to watch about 1,500 athletes from 12 countries compete fiercely. 

 

By the end of 2023, the coverage rate of sports facilities in the city reached 97.6%, with 15,495 sports venues, 12 public sports venues, and a per capita sports venue area of 2.59 square meters.