The gathering to honor those who have made outstanding contributions to the Chinese delegation's dazzling performance at the Paris Olympics has conveyed not only the whole nation's pride in the athletes' best medal haul at an overseas Olympics but also the significance the country attaches to the development of the sports sector.

The Chinese delegation, consisting of 404 athletes, who competed in 232 events across 30 sports at the Games from July 27 to Aug 12, clinched 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze medals. Yet as President Xi Jinping noted in his speech at the gathering, held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday, it is not only the medals won by the Chinese athletes at the Games that have motivated and inspired the nation, but more importantly the sportsmanship, confidence and openness they have demonstrated on the world stage.

Advancing Chinese modernization will create better conditions and inject strong impetus into the development of China's sports industry, Xi pointed out. He urged the nation to continue to vigorously develop its people-centered sports industry, promote the deep integration of people's physical fitness and national health projects, and continue to move toward achieving the goal of building a strong sports country and a healthy China.

Considering that it was not until the Los Angeles Games in 1984 that New China appeared at the Olympic Games, when it stunned the world with a 15-gold-medal debut, and how far China has gone to make it to where it is today, the next LA Games four years away is set to be another milestone occasion for China to impress the world, not only with the performances of its sportsmen and sportswomen, but also its capabilities as a nation with vitality and vision.

To some extent, the Paris Olympics was a platform for the world to see the prospects of a confident and vigorous China. The country distinguished itself not only by competing in more events, but also with the high-visibility of its technology, products and sponsorship. The Made-in-China and Designed-in-China equipment and the ubiquitous advertisements of Chinese corporations during the Games all speak volumes of the remarkable progress the country has made in different fields.

Pursuing excellence means perseverance, dedication and meticulousness. If there's one word to summarize Team China's achievement in Paris, it's "breakthrough", because apart from the six traditional sports in which China excels, which include diving, table tennis and weight lifting, the Chinese athletes have made rapid progress and shown huge potential in some sports in which it has been a late starter. This can be attributed to the club-based and market-oriented training approaches that have been adopted, in order to identify and nurture young talents through targeted and personalized training programs.

That has been the peak of the wave of the robust development of mass sports and youth sports in the country over the past decade, which has not only markedly expanded the talent pool for the country's competitive sports but also served to enhance the overall level of national fitness.

In Paris, the young Chinese athletes born in the new century have done a good job in demonstrating that they have inherited their predecessors' patriotism and unyielding spirit, and also possess a global vision, self-confidence, adaptability and inclusiveness that have become the hallmarks of their generation.

The Olympic Games is the biggest stage for athletes around the world to realize their dreams as well as an important platform for enhancing cultural exchanges among countries and regions. The Chinese athletes have shown the sincerity and friendliness of the Chinese people and promoted the building of a community with a shared future for mankind by strengthening mutual understanding and friendship among different peoples through their demeanor and interactions with other athletes and teams.

With so many hotspot issues caused by parochial calculations and selfishness taking their toll on the world, it is to be hoped the moments that shone with humanity at the Paris Games are not only cherished as a common memory of the world but also motivate all nations to show respect to each other and put aside their shortsighted differences for the common good of the people. Only by staying the course in working together can being faster, higher and stronger have any practical meaning.