Equipment maker DHS gets Olympics boost

The company also understands the interplay between sports and business.

"Every four years, the Olympics bring a spate of new commercials and campaigns. To raise brand awareness, we need to have an extensive presence in China's most-decorated programs," Guan said.

The rationale that propelled DHS to provide the barbells for women's weightlifting match in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was that the first gold medals awarded would serve as a curtain-raiser for the athletic competitions that followed. "Being first means a lot more public exposure," he said.

In addition to top-level sports, mass recreational sports are being developed as one of the cornerstones of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).

The State General Administration of Sports set a target for industrial added-value to increase more than 15 percent annually to exceed 400 billion yuan ($61.47 billion) by the end of 2015, accounting for more than 0.7 percent of total GDP.

Buoyed by the results in major sports events, the project also highlighted the importance of developing mass recreational sports by making full use of public and community stadiums. The government encourages constant and multi-channel investment for gyms and other sports facilities.

The administration will allocate 16 million yuan from the sports-lottery fund to help build community gyms and playgrounds in eight provinces and municipalities.

For instance, Shanghai aims to expand the coverage of community facilities to 95 percent of the population and requires 85 percent of school facilities to be open to the public, said Liu Qi, head of public relations division of the sports administration of Shanghai. That means a high rate of facility upgrades, she said.

She described DHS as a "model sports company" in Shanghai.

"Model companies like DHS significantly push up the sports service trade and in turn benefit Shanghai by attracting high-end games as well as promoting the cause of public fitness," she said.

Guan also sensed the opportunities. He said the company saw not only an increasing number of individual buyers, but also a steady growth from government and corporate customers in the past five years. Among them, 70 percent of purchased products are technologically advanced with a much higher profit margin.

"Apparently, the name we made as an innovator in top-level sports benefited our businesses in mass sports. Because people know about our brands, they are convinced of the quality and are willing to pay more," he said.

hewei@chinadaily.com.cn