Research Questions: This paper aims to identify the nature of continuity and change in the management of the elite sports system in China from 2001, when Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympic Games, to 2013. Research Method: The paper draws on the application of theories of the discursive construction of management strategy. Strategic policy documents are reviewed and data from a series of semi-structured interviews with key representatives of stakeholder groups are analysed. Result & Findings: The paper scrutinises the power of sports bureaucrats, whose careers have been premised upon the success of the Juguo Tizhi system, over the Chinese elite sport management discourse, which, for example, justify the retention of the traditional system by invoking fear of Olympic failure, and/or cloaking advocacy of retention of elements of the Juguo Tizhi system in the rhetoric of reform. The research underlines the construction of competing elite sport management approaches at a juncture in the development of the management of the Chinese sporting system. This reflects a clash of ideologies in the roles of the state and the market, with direct consequences for management of elite sporting organisations. Implications: The research highlights the nature of, and the exercise of power in, the construction of management `realities` of Chinese elite sport; unveils the embedded tension between state-control of elite performance and the reform of the management of Chinese elite sport. It provides a way of understanding the power relationship among different elite sport management ideologies simultaneously addressed by the Chinese government.
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