CHINA has definitely gone a long way in sports since it first participated in an international competition in Manila 95 years ago.

It was in February 1913 that the first Far Eastern Championship Games was held at the Manila Carnival Grounds, where the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex now stands.

Elwood Brown, the first secretary-general of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF), proposed the establishment of the Far East Olympic Association and the staging of the Far East Games (FEG) in Asia to Chinese sports officials in 1911, according to Pei Dongguang, a Chinese Olympic researcher, in his latest research posted on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) web site.

The proposal was approved in 1912 by Chinese and Japanese sports officials, as well with China’s Wu Ting-Fang becoming the president, Brown as secretary and J.H. Crocker, a physical education director of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in China, as treasurer of the Games.

China, Japan and the Philippines were the participating nations in the 1913 FEG, a precursor to a small athletic meet that was held simultaneously with the Asia-renowned Manila Carnival back then.

The meet was approved by IOC president Pierre de Coubertin in 1912. They sent representatives to help stage the games. It was later became the first regional meet recognized by the IOC in 1920.

Over 150,000 people witnessed events in track and field, swimming, baseball, tennis, basketball, volleyball and football in the initial staging of the event. The Philippines took all titles except in baseball, where Japan reigned.

About 40 athletes represented China in the event and participated in all sports in the first FEG except in baseball. They figured prominently in track-and-field events of decathlon, 120-yard high hurdles, running broad jump, and running high jump.

Shanghai hosted the second FEG, the first of three stagings for China. Pei said in his research that the second FEG “from a Chinese point of view, was considered the most significant event in the entire series of the Far East Games.” The FEG eventually became the forerunner to the Asian Games.

From then on, China developed its sports program and in 1952, the country participated in its first Olympic Games in Helsinki. It joined from 1936 to 1952.

China withdrew from the Olympics in 1958 after the IOC allowed the Republic of China (Chinese Taipei) to participate before returning in 1984 for the Los Angeles Olympics.

The rest, as they say, is history.

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