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?

Mckayz,

My goondness, I had a feeling that of course this kind of thing is going on in north korea - and who knows maybe even russia still but not this country?

When were you spotted by a scout and where was the sports school you were sent too?

Was it hundreds of miles from your home? Were other children there also scouted out for the government? You poor thing how old were you when you were taken? Three? Four>

How long was your day?

You poor poor thing.

I did gymnastics for fun as a child, I can tell you as a free person, who was old enough to choose to do it - that no one grabbed my leg to force it into postion and no one forced me to do anything.

You should ask our government for compensation and tell us which school it was - and sue them.

Look at the reuters link.
google it anywhere on the internet!

I can compare anyone who has been taken and put somewhere without thier own free will - to each other.

that is a baby in china put into one of these schools as state property or a girl taken to work as a sex slave by a trafficiking ring.

I did it as a free person too. I started going and just mucking about at 3ish and stopped at 20 when I got married and started TTC.

I and several friends found parts of it painful. Training your feet to keep pointed can be very painful for some people.

As I said and as you seem to be ignoring, in the link you started this thread with it does not say anywhere that children are snatched away from their families.

Haven't the Chinese done a lot worse than gym training small children? Policies that have lead to infanticide for instance???? We are all still happy to buy their cheaply produced goods though. Stopping them coming to the Olympics doesn't mean shit. Stop buying their cheap tat and hit them where it hurts.

elizaregina- you're losing any thread of a rational argument and any hope of inspiring meaningful debate.

McKayz and I are the same age and our paths may have crossed as competitive gymnasts and it is gruelling. Ok, perhaps we don't start with such vigour at 5 but certainly by 10 if you're serious about competing.

I urge you to address the point raised with regards to the child's mother being mentioned in the article and the drop out rate.

If you want to blame anyone perhaps you could argue that the parents are putting their children through unnecessary pain for a longshot dream.

Op why the sarky replies? Why post if you want no ones opinion but you're own.

You think this is cruel, and I agree. But a Chinese student of mine laughs at the British and our lack of dedication to our country. I tell her individual happiness is valued here, and she says that's why China is now going forwards while Britain goes backwards. She believes that individual sacrifice for your country is a good thing. So I fully believe these kids' families will support the school.

OP: who do you mean by ''we''?

YANBU to a degree.

I really do feel that China takes the "fun" out of the Olympics, and turns the event into a platform to say, "China is an awesome country full of wonderful happy people!!!" to a dubious audience.

We all know their athletes are treated like machines. I also think China is happy to cheat, as we saw with the gymnastics gold medalist 4 years ago who likely had a government-issued passport declaring her as 16 when news articles from the past few years indicated she was 13. And I'm not sure what to make of that swimmer today...

that swimmer who tested negative?

The swimmerpassed the drugs test today. And all her previous drugs tests.

The chinese swimmer is just a damn good swimmer. All drug tests clear.

Oops X-post with Jumping and Pets.

Passing the drug test does not mean 100% that the person tested was not using a performing enhancing substance.

Perhaps she just did magically become a better swimmer. But I'm dubious, especially after 2008.

Haven't the Chinese done a lot worse than gym training small children? Policies that have lead to infanticide for instance???? We are all still happy to buy their cheaply produced goods though. Stopping them coming to the Olympics doesn't mean shit. Stop buying their cheap tat and hit them where it hurts

Perhaps if Great Britain were bothered about the Chinese regime and wanted to make a political point they could have refused to send athletes to the last games. Since they didn't, they can hardly refuse to allow the Chinese to compete here.

DS is 7 and trains long hours each week. He is stretched and bent into shapes that make me wince by his coach. He loves it and asks to do more sessions.

Ian Thorpe said on coverage today that between the ages of 15 and 18 his swimming times improved by 5 seconds - thats a huge improvement - are we saying he used performing enhancing substances? Certain countries seemed to get their knickers in a twist because a female swimmer recorded faster times on a few lengths than their male swimmers.

I'm in NI and the Chinese gymnastic team trained in the run up to the Olympics at our local gymnastic centre - I know a few staff members who thought the whole squad were well supported and lots of "fun".

Watching the gymnastics today, it really struck me how upset both the Russians and the Chinese gymnasts were at not winning. I think thats the difference between them and some of the less competitive countries (like us).

It was noticeable that the Chinese girls were particularly devestated at not winning a medal, and that is sad.

I felt very proud of the British girls being the first to go and hug and congratulate the American girls though.

Swimmers can't improve? Don't be silly

my riding instructor has been known to 'grab my leg and force it into position'

www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1813961-3,00.html

A lot of china bashing going on these past few days. Why can't some people handle the fact that they're good athletes?! No one questions america's young athletics training regime. Ask any athlete how much time and dedication you must have to achieve gold. Training hard day and night is what it takes.