Sports lauded as the great unifier

For Vince Gennaro, the associate dean of the Tisch Institute for Global Sport at New York University and the author of Diamond Dollars: The Economics of Winning in Baseball, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics offer the opportunity "to take our minds off all of the issues that we're dealing with today in terms of the pandemic" and "that's really something very much the whole world is expecting".

Gennaro has long been involved in sports exchanges between the US and China and is a member of the advisory board of the China-America Sports and Health Association steering committee.

"I went to China in 2017 to be part of the China-US Sports Forum where myself and my colleagues from the United States shared our knowledge and insights into the commercialization of the sports industry and how to build a professional sports infrastructure," he said.

Later that year Gennaro hosted the US-China Sports Forum in New York, which the Tisch Institute organized.

"We had representatives coming from China here and had that same type of exchange," he said.

Gennaro also counseled Yao Ming, who was elected president of the Chinese Basketball Association after he retired from the Houston Rockets and returned to China, on how to develop the organization. He met government officials in China to offer help in advancing China's sports infrastructure.

The coming Beijing Winter Olympics carry "even greater meaning" in light of what the world is going through with the pandemic, Gennaro said.

The Games will be a global focal point because the combination of the winter season and the pandemic will drive more people to stay inside, he said.

"So I think it will be a wonderful opportunity to really take in what stands to be some glorious Games."

The slogan of the Beijing Olympics, "Together for a Shared Future", is highly significant, Gennaro said, standing for everything that sports are about.

"It's bringing people together, it brings nations together, and gives us the opportunity to put aside our differences and immerse ourselves in viewing the athletic excellence that these highly trained athletes bring to us."

It is important for the US and China to work with one another to build the sports industry and sports culture and share the benefits, he said.

"I feel there is more opportunity for the US and China to collaborate on sports development. One of the ways is in technology and innovation."

Gennaro pointed to high-speed cameras and other data-capture devices employed to better understand sports performance.

"I think those kinds of tools are useful in understanding how we can develop sports, even youth sports. So I think there is much to be gained there by collaborating."