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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Clifton EversORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
At the Paris Olympic Games, 15-year-old Chinese surfer Yang Siqi made history by finishing ninth, marking a significant milestone for Chinese surfing. This achievement highlights China’s growing presence in emerging global sports and its evolving role in the international surfing community. Through an analysis of media coverage and official policy documents, this study traces the development of surfing in China and explores its sportisation and institutionalisation within the Chinese sports system. Prior to surfing’s inclusion in the Olympics in 2016, it was a niche sport in China, practiced mainly by amateur enthusiasts. However, following its Olympic inclusion, Chinese sports authorities integrated surfing into the state-led Juguo Tizhi (whole-nation system), with a strong emphasis on improving Olympic performance. This study also investigates the innovative strategies implemented during the Tokyo and Paris Olympic cycles to improve China’s competitiveness in surfing. We reveal that these state-driven innovations represent the emergence of a “New Juguo Tizhi”—a model of China’s sports governance that balances elite performance with structural adaptation in emerging sports–sometimes also known as X-Sports, extreme sports, action sports, nature sports, and lifestyle sports.
Author(s): Yang Z, Evers C
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Leisure Studies
Year: 2026
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 08/04/2026
Acceptance date: 01/04/2026
Date deposited: 10/04/2026
ISSN (print): 0261-4367
ISSN (electronic): 1466-4496
Publisher: Routledge
URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2026.2656263
DOI: 10.1080/02614367.2026.2656263
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