Geoffrey York, the Globe and Mail's China correspondent, has a sobering article on how seriously China takes winning gold at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing -- and the price that some are paying.
When China marshalled its elite athletes for their final rally before the Olympics, their marching orders from the government were clear and urgent.
“To achieve Olympic glory for the motherland is the sacred mission assigned by [Communist] Party Central,” Sports Minister Liu Peng told the 639 hand-picked Olympic athletes in their newly issued red-and-yellow uniforms.
“We have to fulfill our historic responsibility,” he exhorted the Chinese Olympians in his speech at a vast government meeting hall. ...
To keep them focused on gold medals, the Chinese Olympians have accepted limits on their freedom that would be unthinkable in the West. Most have been virtually sealed off from the outside world for the past 18 months, prohibited from any commercial or social activities that could distract them from their training.
This sense of almost obsessive determination is exemplified by Huang Yubin, the head coach of China's gymnastics team, who has vowed to leap from a high building if his team fails to improve on its 2004 results. “If we win only one gold again, I will jump off the highest building,” he told the China Daily this week.
It is exemplified by Chinese athletes who keep pushing for Olympic glory even after they suffer serious injuries, including Chinese divers who run the risk of blindness because of repeated injuries to their retinas. One study found that 24 per cent of Chinese divers have had retina injuries, yet they are under heavy pressure to keep competing.
Seems a bit Faustian to me, but then again, that kind of wimpy attitude is why I'll never win a gold medal.
If you're interested in this topic, also check out Stephen Brunt's column today. It's about why the IOC needs China, authoritarian warts and all:
The folly of believing that playing host to these Olympics will make China revisit its policies in Tibet or Darfur or change its attitude toward the Falun Gong has been exposed now. The confrontation this week over restricting journalists' access to websites doesn't suggest any new openness; it's a blatant breach of China's agreement with the IOC, understanding that at this late date there's no turning back.
Pre-Olympic protests, most notably during the torch relay, as filtered to the Chinese public, have stirred nationalist, anti-Western sentiment. And there's the larger question of arrogance, of believing that an ancient, complex culture might be turned on its head by a three-week athletic circus and a few thousand curious reporters.
But for the IOC and its sponsors, this was never about changing the world. It was about firming up the commercial foundation for the 21st century. China is going to put on an overwhelming spectacular, win a boatload of medals, welcome the rest of the world, on its own terms, and also kick a little sand in their face. In the IOC's dreams, the Americans and the Russians and everyone else will then decide to rise to the challenge, to reclaim past glories, to pump more money into the system and to put on even bigger, better shows.
And the five rings go round and round.