PR China Embraces Olympic Sport When Other Stallinist Nations Do?

As far as I know the Soviet Union competed seriously from Helsinki' 52. Of course the GDR subsequently excelled in ladies sports with the help of the chemists, Romania in particular excelled at gymnastics using svengali like coaches, Eastern Europeans dominated olympic soccer and Cubans were virtually unbeatable at boxing. Weightlifting was dominated by Stallinist nations also. What If the PRC, the regime and its athletes and massive population and yes it's chemists embraced the olympics before they actually did, say at Helsinki? They would excel at more than just ping pong, of course the cultural revolution would see great champions denonounced!
 
You'd have to tone down the Sino-Soviet split, or at least make the PRC more moderate like the Soviet Union. The PRC did participate at Helsinki, but I think the lack of a competitive presence was more so due to the chaos following the Civil War. The Soviet Union was willing to compete with capitalist nations in an effort to show the power of socialism and simply because it was a world power, but China wasn't on that level. I think it was more due to the imperialists vs. anti-imperialists line that China so touted often.

If China did compete, I think they would have had a presence not too dissimilar to a European nation, provided all the domestic disasters are avoided like the Cultural Revolution. Even with those, the PRC could withdraw for decades at a time like they did OTL, but on smaller scale. Plus, Chinese society would be less inclusive and more prone to reform earlier on by allowing competition and dialogue with the West. It won't be too dramatic, but it would be interesting to see during the Cold War.
 
As far as I know the Soviet Union competed seriously from Helsinki' 52. Of course the GDR subsequently excelled in ladies sports with the help of the chemists, Romania in particular excelled at gymnastics using svengali like coaches, Eastern Europeans dominated olympic soccer and Cubans were virtually unbeatable at boxing. Weightlifting was dominated by Stallinist nations also. What If the PRC, the regime and its athletes and massive population and yes it's chemists embraced the olympics before they actually did, say at Helsinki? They would excel at more than just ping pong, of course the cultural revolution would see great champions denonounced!

There would be a lot of chinamen with tits and ponytails running around in funny little red dresses for sure. I dunno if that would help elevate the PRC's status in the world sports community though.
 
Redraw the Map Of Post Independence Africa Based On Tribal Considerations

Unfortunately, I'm no expert on African affairs, but I regar colonialism as one of the great evils, I come from a nation that was colonised - Ireland. I have heard it said that the Belgians deliberately constructed a Hutu - Tutsi divide where no such tribal differences existed with severe consequences for Burundi and of course Ruwanda. So I was wondering if post independence boundaries were drawn for Africa based on major tribal allegances ( I can't spell ) what would it look like and would it be in the level of we all know what it has been in or worse!
Was it at all possible, however patronising ,to stop the independence movements to give 'nations' time to breathe before Independence?
 
As for the PRC in the Olympics, you would have to first have the IOC reach a compromise regarding the participation of Taiwan (a sticking point for years) and maybe no Cultural Revolution in the Sixties. The only major international event Chinese athletes participated in was the 1963 GANEFO or Games of the New Emerging Forces in Jakarta. Ever heard of that one?
Still, it is a great pity that the Chinese were unable to be in the Olympics of the Sixties and Seventies. That would have been extremely interesting, especially against the Soviet and Western teams...
 
There's talk of the 2 hour marathon being achieved within 3 decades! One of it's proponents points out we have yet to see China or India make any substantial impact in athletics, given their vast populations and that the altitude benefits that East Africans enjoy and that also exist in these 2 nations, it is surprising! However I remember our own beloved Irish Athlete, Sonia O'Sullivan losing out on a championship medal to 3 Chinese women in a long distance race, who were termed Ma's army after their coach who credited their medals to turtle blood! Actually the word on the ground is that the Chinese authorities were told by the sports body if they wanted to host the olympics, to go easy on the 'smarties'! Also top athletes can expect at anytime to be dope tested, however such is the red tape in countries such as China the authorities and subsequently the athletes get plenty of advance notice of the arrival of testers!
 
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