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Touchline • Issue 14 • 17
The women are
literally beaten into
submission. If you
said no to anything,
you would be
chastised, slapped
around.”
A policeman forbids
former world
champion Zhang
Shangwu from
performing a stunt for
money in Beijing.
Once in the camps, Chinese bloggers and
independent witnesses claim that the
children are kept in inhumane conditions.
They participate in school studies during
the day but then undergo training for
upwards of six hours. There have been
documented cases of the children being
hit for not reaching a certain goal or
failing to do as their coaches ask.
Again, these children are by no means
dragged from their families, never to
see them again. Within the walls of
the approximately 15,000 training camps
for the young, all of the participants
are volunteers. Some families even pay
to have their children placed in these
facilities.
Such is the focus of their chosen sports,
it is claimed that the children do not
learn skills for life or receive a suitable
education. Of the many thousands who
fail to make the final cut, many leave the
system virtually unemployable.
Even some, that went on to become
professional athletes, have found the
transition back to the mainstream
impossible. In a report by The Epoch
Times, it comes to light just how bad
things can get for athletes at the end of
their shelf life. In one case, elite gymnast
Zhang Shanywu suffered a career-ending
Achilles injury and became destitute.
He received a four year prison term
for stealing laptops and subsequently
became a beggar and street performer.
This manner of story is not uncommon.
According to reports, 80% of retired
athletes are jobless, and the state pension
barely covers their expenses.
Even for adult athletes, training for the
Chinese national team can be a cold
and hard life. Coaches have been seen
to hit some of China’s biggest stars.
Reuters reports the case of Chen Ni, who
left china at the age of 19 to train in
America.
Her coach, Johannah Doeke, spoke of
her mistreatment. “You wonder why the
Chinese women are so successful? Most
of the men are coaches. The women
are literally beaten into submission. If
you said no to anything, you would be
chastised, slapped around. It’s a brutal
system.”
“If shemade amistake,shewould instantly
kowtow and apologise,” she said.
Chinese officials in no way believe that
their system is inhumane. They defend its
principles, stating that a ‘tough but fair’
approach leads to results and enhanced
athletic performance. And the athletes
themselves understand that they must
make sacrifices.
Shi Zhihao, coach of the women’s table
tennis team, defends his country’s tactics,
saying that “China is very free, if you want
you can do it, and if you don’t want to do
it you don’t have to.”
Chen, herself a victim of abuse, claims
that, “the coaches are like athletes’
parents. Sometimes it ends up (that they)
hit their divers, but I know that it will
more hurt inside of coaches every time
when they had to hit their divers.”
In an interview with The Guardian, an
unnamed British coach who works with
the Chinese swimming team undermines
the claims of abuses. His explanation for
the rigours of their training is tied to the
very different social realities between his
own country and China.
“Chinese athletes do not have a comfort
zone; life here is challenging and
often uncomfortable and they are now
prospering because of it.”
Looking from the outside, it is easy to
pass judgement on a system that seems
cold blooded in the extreme. But such is
the magnetism of sport, the importance
that we place on it, perhaps this ferocious
will is a natural progression.