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The central authorities sent a congratulatory message to the country's Olympic delegation on Sunday for their accomplishments and sportsmanship at the Paris Olympic Games. China finished second in the overall medal table at the Games, with 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze medals, marking the country's best performance at an overseas Olympic Games.

8月11日，中共中央国务院向本届奥林匹克运动会中国体育代表团发来贺电，祝贺他们在巴黎奥运会上取得的成就。中国在奥运会总奖牌榜上以40枚金牌、27枚银牌和24枚铜牌位居第二，这是中国在境外参赛奥运会上的最好成绩。

Apart from commending their outstanding athletic performances and achievements in the message, the central authorities also urged relevant departments to take more concrete actions to promote the vigorous development of mass and youth sports.

贺电中除了表扬运动员们的优秀表现和成绩外，还鼓励有关部门采取更加具体的行动，推动群众体育和青少年体育事业蓬勃发展。

It is the fast development of sports at the grassroots level that has laid a solid foundation for the Chinese athletes' dazzling performances on the world stage. More and more people, especially youth, participate in sports, which helps expand the talent pool for competitive sports. Also, a modern sports industry system has been formed that provides support for scientific training and the development of sports.

正是基层体育运动的快速发展，为中国运动员在世界舞台上的亮眼表现奠定了坚实的基础。越来越多的人，尤其是青少年参与体育运动，这有助于扩大竞技体育的人才库，形成现代体育产业体系，为科学训练和体育事业发展提供支撑。

There were 4.59 million sports venues in China last year, and the area of public sports venues exceeded 4 billion square meters for the first time, reaching 4.07 billion sq m. Thanks to that, about 38.5 percent of the population regularly participate in physical exercise. The country has set the goal of raising that level to above 45 percent by 2035.

去年我国共设体育场馆459万个，公共体育场馆面积首次突破40亿平方米，达到40.7亿平方米。大约 38.5% 的人定期参加体育锻炼。我国目标至 2035 年，将这一水平提高到45% 以上。

But although the per capita area of public sports venues in China, 2.89 sq m, last year was up 10 percent from 2022, it lags far behind that of developed countries — 16 sq m in the United States and 19 sq m in Japan. Not to mention that most of the public sports venues run by schools and government institutions, which account for more than 60 percent of the national total, are not open to the public even during the holidays. If these sports venues are taken into account, there is a 15-minute sports venue circle for most neighborhoods in Chinese cities, an objective the government is striving to realize, but the circle exists only on paper.

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