"I have experienced in the past the great pressure that government officials exert on the athletes as well as the coach, and that they demand a gold medal, otherwise it is meaningless. Liu Xiang is still a young boy and he has been put under a bit too much expectation."
Liu, 25, the son of a Shanghai truck driver, was a bright schoolboy until he was picked out at the age of nine as a potential athlete by Mr Gu, his school coach, initially as a high jumper.
And this is what the world hoped would compete against the US militarily. A system that swallows its children, marches upon the young, and pushes the youth beyond the boundaries of reason and common expectation.
Such shame. For China, and the fools who thought so.
China
Olympics
Posts
