Ningbo granted 'City of Olympic Champions' title

Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province was awarded the commemorative "City of Olympic Champions" trophy by the Chinese Olympic Committee on Sept 16, local media reported.

Baoding in Hebei province, Anshan in Liaoning province, as well as Harbin and Qitaihe in Heilongjiang province also received the honor, which recognizes a city's outstanding contributions to the nation's sports development.

Statistics show that Ningbo athletes have won 20 world titles, 24 Asian titles and 172 national titles to date.

Ningbo Sports School has been honored as a national high-level sports talent reserve base for four consecutive years. Over the past decade, the school has won 140 titles at national level or above, and broken national records nine times.

Athletes from Ningbo returned home from the Tokyo Olympics with five gold medals in August 2021. A month later, the city amassed a haul of 20 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze medals at China's 14th National Games, the fourth highest number of medals among all cities in China.

The city's sporting prowess is partly due to sustained efforts to promote fitness among the public.

The proportion of people who regularly participate in physical exercise in Ningbo reached 30.62 percent in 2021, the highest in Zhejiang, according to a survey.

In addition, Ningbo is renowned for its cultivation of competitive sporting talents. The city is aiming to train more than 100 top-notch sports talents, more than 1,000 excellent sports talents and more than 10,000 backup sports talents by 2025, according to local authorities.