to think we shouldnt allow countries that do this to compete?

[elizaregina]

www.chinasmack.com/2012/pictures/chinese-gymnastics-kids-training-with-tears-sweat-dreams.html

If young children are plucked out from thier families and put into a torturous regime day and night for years and years and years with the idea of achiveing greatness for china - should we allow them to compete at all?

Isnt this really allowing slaves to compete> They havant chosen this!!!

Isnt this like buying a puppy from a farm - arnt we encouraging more of the same?

No pain no gain

Those photos are hawked round, I first saw them 20 odd years ago.

What did strike me today, watching the gymnastics final, was that the participants were hugged and encouraged if they made mistake.

You wouldnt have seen that 20 years ago.

It's not good but you can't constantly meddle in every country's internal affairs. The UK is quite outspoken about human rights abuses in China as it is.

you are joking!!!

You can see from the clothing they are not 20 years old, and so what if they are hugged! They are basically stolen from thier families to be forced into being gymnasts!

I did feel bad for the Chinese team today, especially at the end when they showed shots of one gymnast having her running mascara cleaned up. That's a lot of pressure for a 16 year old.

You dont have to " meddle" in thier affairs but you can say we dont allow people to compete - who have not agreed to do so from thier own free will!

These children have been put under pressure fdrom the day they were plucked out of thier familes and put into a nasty school to push them to compete on a world level. Usually as young as 4 and 5.

It may not be the same photos, but China's specialist schools have been around since the Cultural Revolution, and are found in more things than gymnastics.

BTW: who's "we" in all this? For if you mean the Olympics, it is IOC who decide, not host country.

A few years back I saw a programme on how children were trained for the Chinese State Circus. It made me cry. I wouldn't be too surprised if gym nasts were trained in a similar fashion. In one sense, you can't compete with that, can you?

their mothers were there... where does it say they're taken away from their families?

i am not saying that I think it's right to train small children like that because I don't... but things are different in China. I can imagine that a lot of people want their children trained up in things like that because it's the only chance they'll ever get of making something of themselves and getting some money maybe? I don't really know...

Where does it say they've been 'plucked' away from their families?

I used to do gymnastics and some of it used to bloody hurt.

Surely it is up to the Chinese people to fight this...and their odious government. We should condemn it but that's as far as we ought to go in addressing it.

No, I'm not joking. I spend far too much time on media sites. Obscure ones. Those photos are over 20 years old. First hawked out about the time of the Barcelona Olympics in '92.

Erm.."we"? Who made you the moral arbiter of the Olympics? If we start kicking countries out on moral grounds, there'd be no-one left to compete.

You say that they are plucked from their families and forced to train?

But I read the following in the article

Every year, more than 30 children join the gymnastics team, but very few are able to stick with it. ?Every year there are so many talented children who 8give up on training*, which is so saddening,? says the coach.

Heartbroken over the suffering of her child, but wishing a bright future for her child even more, she can?t give up half way because of a moment?s weakness, especially when her child herself likes the sport and has talent.

Pain is present every day, but the children persevere, for their own dreams of becoming champions.

Coach Xia says there aren?t many people learning gymnastics these days, that parents who don?t see achievements after one to two years of training will abandon it. ?Every year there are many talented kids who give up training, which is really disappointing.?

Don't get me wrong, those little upset and painfilled faces made me feel really upset, but I didn't get anywhere in that article anything about children being abducted from their families/plucked from their families and forced to train.

I don't disagree with you that it is a bloody harsh way to train and I don't think anyone should train a child like that, subject them to that sort of pain. I think it's horrible. But neither do I see any evidence of children being forced against their will to train when the article repeatedly talks of children discontinuing the training. Where is the source for that? The bit about how children are forced to do it if they want to quit?

It's not a reputable news site, its a political site.

www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/us-oly-chn-fan-adv-idUSBRE86Q04F20120727

www.chinahush.com/2011/10/26/the-two-extremes-of-chinese-characteristic-physical-education/

Every time - a chinese person - who has been in one of these schools wins a medal will simply perpetuate this hidoues regime to keep forcing more babies into these schools, stealing their childhoods, and robbing them of thier youth.

There is a documentary show all about the Chinese gymnastics training program - I remember watching it a few years ago, and being heartbroken by the way they treated the children. It was made by someone reputable (Panorama maybe or Horizon type people) and was truly shocking. I've never been able to watch a Chinese team since without wondering what they've been through :(

I certainly saw 2 or 3 of those photos about 9 years ago (when I gave up gymnastics at 17). Gymnastics is really painful. Everytime you get to grips with one thing it's on to the next more painful/dangerous combination; there's no comfortable stage. How does anyone know this only (if it even does anymore!) happens in China? What about Romainia or Russia (or any other country better than us)?

POMbears - There is a documentary show all about the Chinese gymnastics training program - I remember watching it a few years ago

Jumping - What did strike me today, watching the gymnastics final, was that the participants were hugged and encouraged if they made mistake.

Note the time line difference of today, and 'a few years ago'.

I remember going to a competition when I was about 15(so 11 years ago now) and a girl messed up her routine and her coach didn't even speak to her. Poor girl was in bits.

Gymnastics hurts. I am pretty sure if someone had taken pictures of me as a kid I would have looked just like that.

You can not compare gymnasts being pushed hard to girls being used as sex slaves.

Nowhere in your first link does it say that children are taken away from their families. Nowhere at all.