Added on Sep 17, 2010

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CHEN: The Beijing Olympics brought concerns from many groups that China's poor human rights record was being overlooked. However, they have also brought into China's state-run sporting system, and the often-disturbing lifestyles it imposes on its athletes. Here's more. STORY: Chinese Olympic diver Guo Jingjing won two gold medals at the Bejing Olympics, added to previous wins in Athens. But she suffers from a number of health issues, including eyesight problems rumored to be so severe that she can hardly see the diving board as she competes. She had announced plans to retire after this year's Games, but it's not clear whether she will ever recover her vision. The damage is said to be caused by her intense training. She began diving competitively at age six, before her retina were fully developed. Guo's fellow Olympic diver Chen Ruolin is 15 years old and weighs a just 66 pounds. Her state-appointed coach ordered her to skip dinner for one year leading up to the Games so she could stay thin and make a smaller splash when she hit the water. Such stories abound in a country where top-level athletes are usually chosen at extremely young ages, based on body type, and placed in intensive, state-run training programs to prepare them for eventual Olympic competition. They train all day, everyday in an environment many athletes in the West might consider harsh—or even abusive. But for those in China's athletic system, which is inspired by the Soviet Union, it's just the way of ...

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Tags: Sports  Ntd  Ntdtv  News  Beijing  Olympics  athletes  diver  GuoJingjing  weightlifter  ChenRuolin  judo  XianDongmei