ABSTRACT
The Soviet sports development system is a model in which sports are developed under the government's sport institutions and with interaction between politics and sports. In order to overcome the problems arising from the significant increase of retired elite athletes, and the lack of sufficient resources to enhance retired athletes’ employability in the competitive job market, the Chinese government proposed a model to be led by the governmental departments, supported by schools, and cooperated with the sports and the education sectors in the 1980s. This model was named ‘the Cooperation of Sport and Education model’. The integration of sports and education is also an important part of the construction of a strong sports nation. It emphasizes cultivation of well-rounded talented athletes, adheres to the mission of ‘establishing moral values and educating people’, follows the education philosophy of ‘health first’, and unifies the request for quality school sports development and development of the talent pool in elite sports.
