China’s gruelling gymnastics programme: Intelligent athletic strategy or child cruelty?
China is the current powerhouse in Olympic gymnastics. It has over the years won a lot of gold medals in the artistic gymnastics category of the sport. It is similar to the former USSR in the fact that its teams performed very strongly in the sport. It also shared with the former Soviet Union the fact that its training programme has been harshly criticised for being too strict and the country has also had to weather an age falsification media storm. The situation in the Chinese gymnastics camp is very interesting, there are a huge number of young gymnasts just waiting to be given a shot and there is a huge amount of pressure on the current lot to perform. But are their tactics too harsh and do they put their competitors under too much pressure?
The literature on the history of gymnastics in China is scant. What is known though is that in ancient times, gymnastics was performed as a part of the Chinese martial art Wushu. Over time, the sport grew in the populous country and the government set up a complete gymnastics training programme to bear fruits for the country. And it did bear fruits; Chinese gymnasts started to win gold medals as early as 1984. Arguably the most famous Chinese male gymnast of all-time was the phenomenal Li Ning, who in 1984 won six medals; he managed to win three gold medals in floor exercises, pommel horse and rings. The interesting thing to note here is that this very famous gymnast was ridiculed and dismissed when he failed to win any medals in Seoul in 1988.
Children in China start to train to become gymnasts from the age of four. This is a lot younger than when other athletes start training and the training programmes do not seem as harsh as they are in China. There has been some serious criticism of China’s gymnastics programme by numerous people who feel it is too tough on little children. Before they are chosen to start training children are tested to see if their bodies are limber enough to withstand the demands of the sport. Those that are selected then start a lifelong process of trying to become the best. The Chinese government has set up a very large training facility where the children live and train. The families of the young athletes usually move into adjacent flats as well.
A lot of people are also supportive of the training programme saying that it has been showing very strong results of late. China is now a dominant powerhouse in gymnastics and looks all set to become the top country in the sport. Life in China can be highly regulated and so the gymnastics training programme is very similar. It inculcates a system of discipline, acceptance of orders, and a strong work ethics. It also produces champions, a large number of them. China’s gymnastics teams were very dominant during the Beijing Olympics and look all set for London Olympics in 2012.
But does training children at the age of four constitute as child cruelty. Does making little children hang for hours from a bar in order to develop upper body strength seem like the right thing to do? Well it depends on how a person looks at this situation. These little children have to balance a gruelling training schedule, tough school routine and also give time to their families. It can sometimes become too much for them to handle. And in a country like China where failure is seen as losing face, the side effects can be devastating. He Kexin from China recently fell off the uneven bars during the World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam. She could be seen sobbing uncontrollably for almost an hour after the event. The pressure must have gotten to this petite 18-year-old in the end.
Some people in the sport are all praise for the strong work ethic and disciplined gymnastics programme that China has developed over the years, but other are more critical saying the programme needs reform. At the end of the day it can only be up to the Chinese gymnasts themselves to say whether the system is too harsh or not and whether it needs reform. The change, if it is to come, has to come from within.
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