I remember the GTO program in my youth. I can't say anything bad about it. I can only welcome any program aimed at promoting sport and health among young people.
We did not depart from the playgrounds and gyms all our free time
, sought to perform standards and were proud of our successes, unlike other guys who knew a lot about alcohol and tobacco since twelve years old and who probably thought we were morons. Any Mao-style ideology were not. Sport and health versus drugs and child criminality. There was a fashion, popularity for sports appearance and sporty lifestyle.
And I disagree about it needlessness for demographics. Healthy people give birth to more healthy children.