No Fun and Games For Chinese Athletes

By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, August 22, 2008

BEIJING, Aug. 21 -- Chinese gymnast Cheng Fei had just won a bronze medal for her performance on the balance beam, less than a week after the Chinese squad beat out the Americans for gold in team competition. But speaking with reporters immediately afterward, all she focused on were the mistakes she had made two days earlier in the floor exercise.

"When I was a beginner, it was normal for me to make mistakes," an exhausted Cheng said Tuesday. "But I persisted for four years just for these Games, so when I lost on Sunday it was unimaginable for me. I feel totally empty. . . . I don't have my soul anymore, and am only left with my body."

Even though China has captured more gold medals than any other country, it is difficult to detect success in the voices of its athletes.

Instead, the athletes' post-competition comments reveal a world of pressure and unfulfilled expectations, in stark contrast with the more confident, even boastful comments by Western athletes.

Usain Bolt, the record-breaking Jamaican sprinter whose gold medal performances Saturday and Wednesday had audiences on their feet, was not shy in victory; he thumped his chest and told television cameras he was "number one." The self-congratulatory behavior was criticized Thursday by Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, who suggested Bolt be more respectful to his competitors.

Chinese athletes are unlikely to ever get that lecture. When they do well, they fail to boast; and when they do poorly, they can be intensely self-critical. Their attitude, experts say, is largely cultural.

"Our athletes have more pressure than other countries' athletes. They feel they are really responsible for the country's image," said Mao Zhixiong, who teaches sports psychology at Beijing Sports University. "Many Chinese athletes practice their sports not because they like it but because they are selected by the country."

The Chinese government also tends to reward only first-place finishes. According to a well-known saying here, "There is no first place for literature, there is no second place for kung fu."

Chinese athletes spend so much time in training that they rarely see their families. Many struggle to find rewarding work after retirement. Foreign athletes, by contrast, often have jobs or other obligations during their careers and train in their spare time.

Diver Chen Ruolin, 15, who finished first in a preliminary round of 10-meter platform diving Wednesday, said cheering crowds were an encouragement to her. But she seemed puzzled when reporters asked if her family was present. After the question was repeated, Chen replied matter-of-factly: "They didn't come to watch the game. I don't care about this."

Chen won the gold medal Thursday, while her teammate Wang Xin took the bronze.

"The problem with Chinese athletes is they are not bold enough, they don't have strong enough personalities to show," said Zhao Mu, a former sports journalist who said Bolt's joyous victory lap was understandable.

"Instead they're just symbols of national honor to be shown in public," said Zhao, now chief editor of the blog channel at Sohu.com.

Even some Chinese athletes acknowledge they lack the confidence of their American counterparts.

"We need to learn from them in that they are braver in the fight than us," said Cheng, who admitted Tuesday that she didn't want to think about the gymnastics competition anymore because it made her too sad. "Compared with them, we have less competition experience. I once flew to the U.S. and I remember they have contests almost every week, so they grow up in competition. We need to learn the confidence that they bravely show in front of everyone."

Cheng's teammate, Li Shanshan, who fell off the balance beam during her routine Tuesday night, left the floor with huge pools of tears in her eyes.

Some athletes are under such pressure they try to hide their injuries. When superstar hurdler Liu Xiang pulled out of the 100-meter hurdles because of a reoccurrence of an earlier foot injury, many shocked and angry Chinese said they felt the injury should have been publicized earlier.

On Saturday, the top-seeded badminton player, Xie Xingfang, 27, sounded defeated after winning silver in the women's singles competition to her second-seeded teammate, Zhang Ning, 33, who took the gold.

"I have already struggled my best. I am too tired to continue," Xie told reporters afterward, according to the news site Sina.com. "I never told others before that my body is full of injuries."

Asked if she would continue to compete, Xie said her injuries might not permit it. "Everyone will feel unhappy for not getting the championship. . . . For this Olympics, I tolerated a lot of pains which cannot be tolerated by ordinary people."

Even those athletes who win gold talk about their difficulties rather than their successes.

"I left home when I was little. It was always very hard and I've encountered a lot of difficulties on my way here," said Xiao Qin, who won the gold medal in the men's pommel horse Sunday. "Four years ago, my mistake caused the team to lose a medal. I criticized myself for a long time."

Not every athlete describes a life of exhaustion and pressure.

Ma Liyun, 20, joined the Guangdong Provincial Cycling Team four years ago and was smiling after finishing 16th in a motocross preliminary round Wednesday.

"The atmosphere in the field is very exciting. I don't feel there is a big distance between Western countries and China, and I have confidence that we can catch up with them. It's hard to say when, but should be very soon," she said.

Asked how she would prepare for the final, Ma added: "We think about the game and consider how to do well in the field by ourselves. I just relax and enjoy myself."

Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.