Sport

This article appeared today on the Daily Mail UK website. It mainly features pictures of children training in gyms in China and reports on how the children are “contorted into the most uncomfortable positions.” Apparently Chinese officials have insisted that tough new eligibility rules will end the type of ‘age cheat’ scandal which resulted in Dong Fangxiao and the Sydney 2000 Chinese Team being tripped of their bronze medals.

Whilst perhaps the Chinese way of coaching may be tougher, it certainly does get results. If you read the comments below the short article you will see what readers think:

It looks horrible at first, but I’m sure that they wouldn’t be pushing them to dangerous limits.

And look how healthy and in shape these children look!

These children’s bodies get pushed to the extreme…forced to carry on training with sprained ankles etc….and very often they suffer with arthritis by the time they hit their late 20′s. A friend of mine was a US Olympic gymnast, and even though she never regretted it she would never put her daughter though all the pressure.
It effect’s your childhood and education probably more so than kids occasionally playing video games.

Poor little sods. Not one of those kids look like they want to be there. Another instance of Chinese human rights abuses?

Personally, I don’t take any offence to the pictures – no one enjoys conditioning, no one finds it easy. I find the pictures interesting but yes I would be upset if I thought that these children were not being coached safely.

If you were to leave a comment under the article, what would your opinion be?