China shocks the 'rock' world
This could well be the sign that the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse are saddling up and getting ready to ride! Well, that might be a bit dramatic. But still, I have to say that I'm rather taken aback by China's latest foray onto the world sporting stage. China took silver this weekend at the Women's World Curling Championships in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. Though the Chinese squad was defeated by Canada 7-4 in the final on Sunday, the Chinese team actually entered into the finals as the top seed, having defeated Canada twice in round robin action. This raises the obvious question: Huh???
I've lived here in China for over 2 1/2 years, and have never once seen a curling rink. Now granted, I've never been to any of the northeastern provinces that might cater to this sport, which is dominated - on the global stage - by Canada, Scotland (the country of origin of said sport) and the Nordic countries, but I'm guessing trying to find a sheet of ice to roll some rocks is about as easy as finding an advocate for western-style democracy on the Politburo. Perhaps this is why the Chinese national women's curling team lives and trains in Canada 8 months out of the year. And it's with this point in mind that I have wonder about the fairness of China's sports development program.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not taking anything away from the Chinese women's curling squad. Having been a competitive curler myself as a youngster, I can confidently say that it's a sport that requires a surprising amount of finesse and strategy, and is not that easy to master. People can curl all their lives and never come close to achieving any kind of notoriety in the sport. You really have to have a knack for the sport to do well at it. That said, the old adage of "practice makes perfect," does fit into the equation. Unlike the Canadian women's team that defeated the Chinese in Sunday's final, who all maintain full-time jobs and practice during their off hours, the Chinese squad receives enough funding to practice 10 hours a day, everyday, for nearly 8 months out of the year. As far as I am aware, no other international curling team is afforded that luxury. And, of course, the Chinese government's sports funding goes well beyond curling. Every year, millions upon millions of dollars are sunk into Chinese athletes to allow them to train full time to compete on the international level. China's support for its amateur athletes is unprecedented, and in some ways, quite laudable. Support for amateur sports on a global level is rather limp, and really should be a lot better. But that said, I would say that China's sports development program is coming very close to becoming like a pushy mother who forces her daughter into a beauty pageant to live out the glory she never achieved, and will stop at nothing to ensure that. A prime example of what I mean is Yao Ming.
According to former Newsweek journalist and author Brook Larmer, who wrote the book Operation Yao Ming, the basketball phenom from Shanghai was the product of a Chinese sports breeding program which paired his 6-foot-9 inch father with his 6-foot-2 inch mother in a somewhat creepy eugenics experiment to create the ultimate basketballer. Larmer's book also claims that Yao was essentially forced to play basketball, even though he hated it.
It's examples like these that make me wonder whether or not China is going too far to create a sense of national pride through sport. And, to be fair, I don't know if there's a right answer. Is China not playing fair when it comes to its athletes? Or is China setting a higher benchmark that other countries should be trying to attain if they want to compete with this country when it comes to athletics? I leave it to the masses to debate. The one thing I do know is that it's nice to see Canada come up against some new competition on the curling sheet! And kudos to the Chinese women's team for putting on an exemplary performance. From all reports, the Chinese women were the stars of the show in Canada this past week and carried themselves (minus one slightly controversial incident, which was highly overblown in my mind) well in what is a somewhat cliquey curling community.
Categories
China0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: China shocks the 'rock' world.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.zhongnanhaiblog.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/304
Paul,
You have made a few valid points until you refer to "according to former Newsweek journalist and author Brook Larmer, who wrote the book Operation Yao Ming, the basketball phenom from Shanghai was the product of a Chinese sports breeding program which paired his 6-foot-9 inch father with his 6-foot-2 inch mother in a somewhat creepy eugenics experiment to create the ultimate basketballer. Larmer's book also claims that Yao was essentially forced to play basketball, even though he hated it."
No comment further.
LOL, what Larmer said was really laughable and he certainly knows little about China 25 years ago. In the 80's young people in China were shy, and most couples were first introduced to each other by elder people who thought they were a nice fit. It's very natural to me that a gov offcial took the role of the "elder" and introduced them together, and when they finally decided to marry I can imagine people would say "Ha, you are both excellent basketball players, your son must be even taller and would be a genius in basketball!" Don't take it seriously and say it's a "sports breeding program" or "creepy eugenics experiment", it's just a normal compliment.
After all, Yao Ming's parents were too tall for ordinary people, and the boring training programs made it diffcult for them to know girls/boys outside of the basketball world. Their marriage was thus the most logical outcome.
As to Curling, ummm, actually I quite like it though I haven't had many chances to watch the matches. I think this sport is much much underestimated and under-developed by now, they really need a businessman to lead the World Curling Federation!
The trend of the sports world is professionalism, so I don't think what China does is anything wrong. As to whether it's a good way of spending money, well, since only a half billion is spent here each year, which is less than 1/10 the price of the new CCTV tower, who cares? I'd choose 10 years of good news to read over that building any day.
This is just too bad that the professional Chinese women team, which trains in Canada on a full time basis, was lost to an amateur team from Canada, which meet to train may be a few months a year, and have other full time jobs. The Chinese team should win next time, with a real Chinese coach.
Biased Western media at work again.
Yes, this could be the result of large-scale investment in sports backed up by Peking Opera-style coaching techniques, combined with "creepy eugenics programs".
Or it could be the physical manifestation of the increase in Weetabix sales on the mainland.
We'll know if the Chinese rugby team ever starts kicking the sh-t out of the All Blacks!
It's the same in other minority sports as well - especially in the run-up to 2008, the Chinese authorities have poured funding into this area, because it's an easy way to climb up the Olympic medal tables. If you look beneath the cover of the 32 gold medals the Chinese team won in Athens, you'll see that hardly any of them came in the high-profile sports - they only won two medals (total) in the whole of the track and field area, for example. Even if you take out sports like table tennis that are more popular in China than elsewhere, you still end up with a huge majority of Chinese medals coming from lightly contested categories.
@Pierre:
Actually, the Chinese women's team is coached by a Canadian as well. But, in the curling world, that's not uncommon at all. As for losing to an 'amature' Canadian team, I wouldn't feel bad for the Chinese at all. Canada has some 2 million people who curl, compared with about 100 here in China. And Canada has been curling for well over 100 years. China has been sliding on the ice for just over 10. And given the Chinese squad's performance this past weekend, they really have to be considered one of the favorites to win the gold in Vancouver in 2010.
Xniteman & CC:
I've actually interviewed Brook Larmer, and have no reason to suspect that he has any sort of bias toward China or China's sports programs. He lives in Shanghai and has interviewed dozens of people connected to Yao Ming, as well as Yao himself.
@Zen:
Please explain how this is 'Western media bias.'
To be honest, the Olympics isn't really about amateur atheletes competing for personal and national glory anymore. The days of Bannister running a 4 minute mile by training during his lunch breaks are long gone.
I guess the difference between China and the United States is that while China's sports programs are state sponsered, the United States training camps are run by corporations like Nike or Adidas.
And curling...? Err...
Paul,
I am just following the common sense based on my knowledge of China. The whole story is certainly eye-catching, but this does not make it true. XniteMan's explanation is more reasonable to me. Conspiracy theory or sort of conspiracy theory always has its market. I just don't believe what he said and you can continue to believe that.
@CC:
XniteMan's explanation is very likely part of the scenario. And I don't think for a moment that Chinese sports authorities put a gun to either of Yao's folks heads and told them to breed. But something tells me that there may also be some truth to what Mr. Larmer is contending. How much pressure there was for Yao's folks to hook up is something we may never be privy too... but I really suspect there was some influence exerted on this situation.
Paul,
There just need not to be any pressure for them to hook up because they did not have many other choices. I didn't investigate how many former basketballers finally married, but I guess a lot. They were just too tall for ordinary people and as they do trainings in the stadium every day they had little chance of knowing other boys/girls. Even today this is very true for Chinese athelets of many fields. Yao Ming also married Ye Li, member of the Chinese women's basketball team. If you Google their names in Chinese you will find a lot of stories and posts predicting the height of their children, and the possibility they would become basketball stars, would you say it's another "sports breeding program"?
So my point is, if it's so natural, so logical for tall people to marry each other, why would a "creepy plan" be needed here?
I don't doubt Mr. Larmer has done lots of interviews, but I highly doubt he misunderstood what those people said. Where can I find the interviews on the web?
Paul,
Mr. Larmer's next interview targets should be Yao and Ye. Another communist sports breeding story is done in no time.
Paul,
The problem with Mr. Larmer's story is not the story itself, but the way it is described. It might have easily been the case that during his interviews that this tall-tall marriage-makes-taller story was told as a passing comment/joke by the couple themselves or by their friends/colleagues. However, Mr. Larmer has described this account in such a serious manner, which definitly must have found many many sincere believers in the west.
Interview:
Why have you bought this suit? Mr. Yao.
Because I like its style, design and finish, etc.
Oh, by the way, also because of the bar code on it relates to my lucky numbers, haha.
Report: Mr. Yao bought the suit because he likes the bar code.
Majority of Chinese women would not want to marry men that are shorter than themselves. So even if Yao's mum didn't marry his dad, she would have most likely married another basketball player. So the "breeding program" is a bit of a stretch in my humble opinion.
webcams amateur in
webcam free amateur
webcam free amateur