Jennifer Isbister of Gymn.ca recommended a National Geographic Channel documentary called Taboo II: Child Rearing .
The segment examines child rearing around the world. One section looks at 6-year-old gymnasts living away from their families at Shi Cha Hai Gymnastics Sports School.
From what was shown on TV, the cruelest thing I saw was making these poor boys train in underwear. (Can someone please send that School a few hundred pairs of cheap shorts?)
The translation of coaching comments were very harsh, too, though it is difficult to translate exactly how harsh from another language.
photo – Li Xiaoshuang Gymnastics School in Xiantao
The big issue — how much can we criticize other cultures who do not meet our own standards? It’s a dilemma when we see people from other countries behave in ways that would be unethical or illegal in our own.
IOC President Jacques Rogge no doubt has dealt with this question many times. To a journalist from England:
… The routine beatings allegedly given to child gymnasts in China are no different to the corporal punishment that was once part of daily life in English public schools, according to the head of the Olympic movement. …
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, commented on concerns aired recently on the BBC by Sir Matthew Pinsent. Sir Matthew said he had witnessed young children in China being physically abused by their gymnastics supervisors.
… they had to be put into a cultural context, insisting the issue should not be “exaggerated” or “blown up”. …
China’s abuse of its athletes is no different to Britain’s public schools, says Olympics chief
Things are changing rapidly in China. But if you think they are changing too slowly, Rogge too forgiving, leave a comment.
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