An ancient Greek Hesiodos divided the human civilizations in ancient times into "golden age", "silver age", "bronze age" and "heroic age". In the subsequent years, historians used these concepts to tag the different stages of the rise and fall of various civilizations.

　　It's beyond any doubt that in military barracks sports forever enjoy a "golden age". Servicemen and sports have a sib tie. In the old days, some athletic sports, such as the famous marathon, derived directly from the battlefield. From today's perspective, almost all the scenes of ancient battlefields described in Homer Epic are virtually the reproductions of the modern sports arenas.

　　As it is so well put by Socrates: with regard to physical exercise, staying healthy and getting ready for serving the state makes an ingredient of the citizen's civic duty. That is because in war or crisis, a country with only unhealthy youths will be so helpless.

　　As a matter of fact, many athletes turned to heroes of defending their motherlands as well. In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, many Chinese servicemen who displayed their great potentials in the venues of the Olympic Games immediately before they responded to the call of their motherland and marched valiantly to the battlefield in order to save their country, and eventually shed their blood in such well-known battles as the Tai'erzhuang Campaign. When this is brought to mind today, it still calls forth a feeling of profound respect for them.

　　Clausewitz, a military philosopher and strategic theorist, considered that the prime important trait of the servicemen was to cherish passion that is essential in war and in peacetime. When the passion is integrated with the sports spirit of "faster, higher, stronger", it will generate tremendous power. Today, the PLA servicemen attested such a view with the Olympic support troops making contributions for the Olympic Games and the PLA athletes becoming a vital force of the Chinese Sports Team and winning the first gold medal.

　　By Zheng Shuyan

　　(Aug 12, PLA Daily)                                                 Editor: Dong Zhaohui