MovieChat Forums > London 2012: Games of the XXX Olympiad (2012) Discussion > The Chinese don't have athletes at the O...

The Chinese don't have athletes at the Olympics

posted 12 years ago by Theoden_of_ODU
2 replies | jump to latest

Okay, now that I got your attention with that, let me explain myself.

I've been bothered by this since at least the 2008 Olympics. The artificial precision of the 2008 opening ceremonies that seemed to wow the rest of the world, the athletes that dominate a wide array of sports with incredible dedication to their given sports...

My problem is when I see virtually every other nation at the Olympics, I see athletes. They may not be amateurs anymore, but they're still athletes. I see people who have spent much of their lives competing against other athletes, sacrificing their own time, their own family's money, working hard to improve themselves on their own. For the most successful, they've made it and survive on endorsement deals and whatnot. This is how it works for virtually every single country.

China has begun to farm and construct individuals that resemble athletes. These people are pushed to their limits - virtually every single civilized nation would consider what happens to these young Olympians child abuse. Children that show promise are "sent away" (or "taken away") from their homes at a very young age - some as young as 5 and 6, for the sole purpose of creating a world-class athlete. These people don't have a real life - even NBC's coverage includes the backgrounds of select athletes across the world, yet for a nation that has "world class athletes" - very little if anything is ever spoken of the *person* behind the metal. Perhaps it's just terrible reporting on NBC's part, but often of ones that don't stand a chance of metaling from "minor nations" get their bios mentioned.

There's the story of the "family" who kept their grandparents' deaths secret from diver Wu Minxia until she won gold medal - the grandparents died YEARS ago. Of course she defended it like an automaton, stating: "Parents seldom come to our training base. However, we are like a big family. We train together from different bases." I'm not really sure how that can be construed as a defense since, in my opinion, it makes the entire system look that much worse.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics--china-s-olympic-goal--dominate- the-medal-count.html

I enjoy the Olympics, but the Chinese have perfected the precise fears of all those naysayers who believe that the Olympics are nothing more than a jingoistic exercise to prove to the world how great their country is because they've collected a certain number of otherwise useless round pieces of metal on string.

"You've shown your quality sir. The very highest."

[–] Sylvenger 12 years ago

With all the billions of dollars we have given China ("Made in China"), they can afford to engineer athletes. They probably have dozens of "mad scientists" working on non-detectable steroids and I wouldn't be surprised if their past top athletes are being forced to breed with other top athletes. Eugenics anyone?

If given the choice to be the shepherd or the sheep... be the wolf.

[–] LesterFester 12 years ago

by - Theoden_of_ODU ... sacrificing their own time, their own family's money, working hard to improve themselves on their own.

I know It's only semantics but people throw the word sacrafice around so much it has lost its true meaning. At its root a sacrafice is the giving up of something of value in exchane for something of a lesser value. If I loan money to someone with the expectation of receiving in return a greater sum in the future, there is no sacrafice. An Athlete gives up his time & money (and his parents) in exchange for a greater value (or potential greater value0 of; a gold medal; being the best there is; self improvement). You may disagree with an athletes assessment of his values but they are his values.

China has begun to farm and construct individuals that resemble athletes. These people are pushed to their limits - virtually every single civilized nation would consider what happens to these young Olympians child abuse. Children that show promise are "sent away" (or "taken away") from their homes at a very young age

This is nothing new. In years gone by you've had China's gymnasts, the German swim team, the Romanian gymnasts and if you want to go back to what may be its begining, the German athletes under Hitler. These are all examples of countries that hold that the individual has no rights other than to serve the state. In this instance it may be appropriate to use the word sacrafice.