Olympics: Why is Britain all heart and China ruthless?

Team GB wins 29 gold medals in London— they’ve played their heart out. China wins 51 gold medals in Beijing— ruthless training. USA’s Michael Phelps wins dozens of medals— no problem. Chinese Ye Shiwen breaks record— doping allegations.

One must wonder: is this a relentless attempt from the rest of the world to see China through a really thick smokescreen or is it reality?

It is no secret that the Olympics is a matter of national pride for China. But come to think of it, it is the same for India, Great Britain, Australia or the US.

There is no doubting that Team GB put up a great show and that the US beat China in the overall tally but as one of China’s newspapers put it— many people have been ‘selectively blind’ to their achievements.

But then there is the other argument. The argument that says that China needs to learn the world’s rules— at least while playing at the global level. It is not the first time that China has been blamed for something which they have initially denied before evidence was found that the allegations were true (Chinese gymnast Yang Yun, who won individual and team bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, disclosed later that she had been underage at the time of those Games.)

After the Badminton match-fixing scandal, where China were deemed to have thrown away matches, Daniel Shen wrote an op-ed for the Global Times, out of China:

“Learning what rules the outside world really plays by should be one of the main goals of our participation in the London Games.”

Then there are the famed stories of Shiwen training for five-and-a-half hours a day, with just one break per week and how hurdler Liu Xiang felt forced to compete despite a knee injury. And of course, the most cherished one for those who despise China’s methods— diver Wu Minxia not informed about her mother suffering from cancer and her grandparents passing away until she won gold.

But what do, for instance,  Chinese who live overseas think of this chatter? Firstpost spoke to Shao Lingyan, a professional who is based in Sheffield, and she said: “Nobody is forcing those kids to leave their home. I guess their parents are happy to give them away for training. Chinese government is not that bad! They wouldn’t go steal children at least.”

But the quote that really struck a cord was: “I don’t think anyone can become number one without sacrificing their personal life.”

We asked her how she perceived all the reports about ruthless training at the Olympics : “I laugh at the silly things that happen in China as well, but I am sure silly things happen in other countries too. But this time, about Olympics, it is a bit unfair to say that China is ruthless. I don’t think those American and British gold medal winners are naturally talented. I am sure every single medal winner has been through tough training which included living away from their family.”

We also spoke to Yajing Wang, a 24-year-old who works in London, for her views on China’s obsession with winning gold medals: “Winning a gold medal is not just something they can do for their country, it’s also or more about realising their own dreams. And therefore I won’t say it is ruthless that an athlete wasn’t informed of her family’s situation while participating at the Games. China used to be very weak in Olympics and other international sports competitions, and that is why they have attached a very high sense of patriotism to winning.”

A commentator on a nationalist forum was quoted in this report as writing: “We have lost what was ours to the imperialist power that is trying to contain China everywhere, but China will rise regardless!!!”

But Yajing does feel sorry about the athletes who are not that successful: “With China striving for only the top athletes, I don’t know how many of them actually get any other skills to support their own life.”

China’s cycle of creating a champion athlete is very simple. It starts from the grassroots, where young talent is spotted at the lowest level. After that, every little prodigy keeps going to a higher level with just one goal: standing tallest at the Olympic podium. What goes on before that, and whether it is by force or by choice is something which cannot be confirmed.

Weibo, which is China’s equivalent of  Twitter, had a comment which said: “A country with a nationalized athletics program is really a country that raises athletes like livestock to train on your behalf… not to mention, the nationalized athletics program is a brutal affair, dirty and corrupt behind the scenes.”

It is easy to infer that China is not quite united with the way they perceive their road to success.

But between the two sides of the argument lies a very thin veil. If there is something to be taken from this for India, then it is learning the selflessness with which the Chinese parents give up their children at an early age and the tremendous hard work that goes behind a gold medal. This, sometimes, looks a much better choice to adopt rather than let our sports stars fizz out like an overpriced firecracker… or have their parents say that their tennis doubles son won’t even pair with Roger Federer .

As for China, they believe that the West is unwilling to accept their achievements and sees everything through a doubt mirror. This Olympics has proven that as long as there is competitive sport, China will keep producing some stunning athletes.

The methods may raise eyebrows, but so does their medal count.