Chinese athletes news stories on Newser

Champion Gymnast Found Begging on Beijing's Streets

Kevin Spak — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:30:05 CDT

The fate of one former gymnastics prodigy has sparked outrage in China, following revelations that he has been reduced to begging on the streets of Beijing. Zhang Shangwu, 28, was sent to a gymnastics academy at age 5, made the national team at age 12, and in 2001 won two...

Officials Clear Chinese Gymnasts

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:30:06 CDT

China's 2008 gold medal gymnasts are in the clear, after international gymnastics officials said today the documentation provided confirms the women were old enough to compete. But the Chinese team that won the bronze medal 8 years ago still faces questions about the age of two competitors.

Chinese Athletes Went Through Hell for Gold

Rob Quinn — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:16:55 CDT

China topped the gold medal tally at the Beijing Olympics but the road to glory was a tough one for many athletes, the Los Angeles Times reports. Judo gold medalist Xian Dongmei, the only mother in the squad, did not see her 18-month-old daughter for a year before the Games,...

China's Gold Rush Pays Off Nicely for Athletes

Rob Quinn — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 11:04:52 CDT

Decades ago, bringing glory to the motherland would have been the sole reward for victorious Chinese Olympians. The glory is still there—plenty of it, as China leads the gold medal table—but champions can now expect an average reward of $300,000 in cash and bonuses, even before corporate...

IOC to Probe Chinese Gymnast's Age

Jess Kilby — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:53:00 CDT

The International Olympic Committee has launched an investigation to determine if Chinese gymnastics gold medalist He Kexin is under the minimum age of 16, after a computer security expert turned up a document indicating that she's 14. Mike Walker yesterday posted an account of his search, in which he found...

Chinese News Agency Put Gymnast's Age at 13

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:00:00 CDT

Just 9 months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government's news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week. In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He as one of "10...

The Price of Reaching the Top

Katherine Thompson — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:27:01 CDT

Nearly all of Chin'a Olympic athletes come out of the country’s sports boarding schools—a system that depends on the dismal prospects of the country's poor. "A rich person would never let his child do this," the father of Athens gold medalist Chen Yanqing tells the Wall Street Journal . But...

Chinese Athletes Destitute After Glory Days

Victoria Floethe — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:35:00 CDT

Zhao Yonghua was a Chinese national skiing champion and won several gold medals. But now, at 31, she is bedridden from diabetes, exacerbated by overtraining. With no hope of recovery or employment, the former star finally had to sell one of her gold medals to raise money for treatment. As...

China's Quest for Glory Pushing Athletes Past Limits

Rob Quinn — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:18:37 CDT

China is going all-out in a sometimes destructive push to top the medal table at the Beijing Olympics, the New York Times reports. Athletes are risking their health by training while injured, and potential medal-winners are being pressed out of retirement. Olympic hopefuls are well aware that victory will bring...