Yeah, military style life long training camp sure can work wonders.
They are certainly dominating, whether it is being done drug-free or not remains to be seen. The gold medalist in the women’s 400 IM smoked the field and had a better final 50 split than Ryan Lochte, the men’s gold medalist in the same event. I believe she had never finished better than 4th before in international competition.
Yeah China has been on fire…we havent even gotten to their traditional strengths in Table Tennis…
I would expect that China will dominate the Olympics for the forseeable future. Money and population are the main ingredients for international athletic success and China has plenty of both.
The Chinese seem to dominate sports that take intense discipline - gymnastics and diving come to mind. The sports that are more athletic based - for lack of a better term - they struggle at. Tennis, boxing, basketball, volleyball…those last two may be more of a height issue though.
^ I guess you better get yourself on the Australian nation team pretty quickly then.
I wonder how many hours of training a Chinese gymnast has compared to a gymnast from the US or another country. I knew some gymnasts in college who were US level. Sure, they trained a lot, but they seemed to still participate in social events and academics. I get the feeling that Chinese gymnasts in a sports school are put through a more focused regime.
It’s probably true also that genetics limit the Chinese ability to do well in purely physical events, like track and field.
Apparently, in preparation for the olympic games this year,chinese swimmers were sent to Himalays/ other low pressure environments to train…bloody hell .
Racist.
Ban him.
Russia and China definitely put more pressure on their gymnasts
Excerpt from a Yahoo article
'In China, athletes are often taken away from their families at a young age and placed in specialist training schools where they practice for hours every day. Wu began training daily at a diving camp at the age of 6. By the time she was 16, she had left home to be installed in a government aquatic sports institute."
Thats intense but pretty inhumane. The lengths people go to for fame and glory, especially in the developing world.
I bet North Korea has some odd training rituals too
I’m sure most of the Chinese athletes who reach the highest levels of competition have no regrets. Some even become extremely successful in post-athletics life. What Chinese person would not want to be like Li Ning - gymnastics champion/business tycoon.
Not true, the US Gym federation is just as brutal. You don’t think the Karolyi’s have suddenly softened up after coming to the US?
^ I was going to say, I think the part about going to camp, etc isn’t driven by the government so much as by the parents and the society’s desire to suceed. In that regard, it is what it is, in terms of it just sort of being their culture.
That’s just whining. There is no realistic way for China to win a medal other than the way they do it now. Chinese people don’t have the resources to send their kids to gymnastics and swimming training, and as a result the government is the one that pours money into the program and recruits and develops players.
If China doesn’t win medals (cough India) it’s going to be ridiculed, but when it wins medals by taking all events, even the minor competitions seriously and developing players for them, others whine about “inhumane” they are…pretty standard comments.
Also, I doubt they’re as inhumane as you think, it’s a huge opportunity for these kids.
Basically a slide show of girls asses from beach volleyball. Not really work safe (unless nobody can see your screen) http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/olympics-decoding-beach-volleyball-s-hand-signals-slideshow/spain-s-liliana-fernandez-steiner-signals-the-play-to-her-teammate-spain-s-elsa-baquerizo-mcmillan-photo-1343745068.html
I’m pulling for Aliya Mustafina to win All Around Gold in gymnastics.
American gymnasts are not that much different. The very big, obvious difference is that their parents, not the government, decide that they will move away to attend the Karolyi Academy.
Why?