Photo:CCTV

The Chinese mainland will send 777 people, its largest overseas team in history, to the Tokyo Olympics later this month, including 431 athletes, the Chinese Olympic Committee announced on Wednesday. The committee said 99.61 percent of the delegation's members have been vaccinated.

Experts said the active participation shows China’s support for the Tokyo Games, the first modern Olympics to be held amid the pandemic.   

The full list of the delegation was made public after “Team Dragon” was officially announced on Wednesday in Beijing. The mainland delegation is registered to participate in 30 major events and 225 minor events, a record for participation in minor events. 

Representatives of the Chinese delegation for the Tokyo Olympics attend a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday. The delegation, including 298 female athletes and 133 male athletes, will compete in 225 events at the Games, which are scheduled to open on July 23. Photo: Xinhua

The Tokyo Olympic Games consists of 33 major events and 339 minor events.  

With Team China's first-ever absence of all three major men's teams - basketball, football and volleyball - the total number of people in the Chinese mainland delegation to the Tokyo Olympic Games is 777, including 431 athletes (298 female and 133 male).  

There are also 30 foreign coaches from 19 countries including the US, Germany, the UK and France, covering 17 sports such as track and field, rowing, water polo and rugby, China Central Television (CCTV) reported. 

The 431 athletes are from 28 provincial-level regions, including 33 athletes from nine ethnic groups. The average age of the athletes is 25.4. The youngest is Quan Hongchan, a member of the diving team, who is 14, while the eldest is Li Zhenqiang, 52, of the equestrian team.  

Among the athletes, 138 have previous Olympics experience, accounting for 32.02 percent of the total number of athletes, and 131 participated in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, including 19 gold medal winners. 

Some 293 athletes will make their Olympic debut in Tokyo.

Zhao Jisheng, a professor with the College of Physical Education and Sports at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times that the list of athletes shows that cultivating new talent will be China’s focus in Tokyo Olympics, as the pandemic has brought uncertainty to the training and performance of athletes around the world.  

Ren Hai, a professor at the Olympic Research Center of Beijing Sports University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that dispatching the largest overseas delegation ever shows China’s solid support for Olympic events, which has become more valuable amid the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical chaos.  

As an important participant in sports, China attaches great importance to the Olympic Games and has been making contributions to the world sports landscape, Ren said. 

About 11,000 athletes from 200 countries and regions are expected to arrive in Japan. The number of athletes is larger than the 10,500 athletes in Rio de Janeiro. 

According to Japanese government regulations, a person related to the Olympics who arrives in Japan in July must take two nucleic acid tests within 96 hours before boarding; a virus test will also be conducted at the airport when entering Japan. During the Tokyo Olympics, all athletes must be tested daily.