Last night I went to see the Canadian premiere of a Chinese gymnastics documentary called The Red Race.
It’s the worst of the many similar features I’ve seen in the run up to the 2008 Olympics.
Clearly the editors neither understand nor care about gymnastics.
The movie had nothing to say about our sport nor much to say about the Olympic obsession in China. Nothing redeemed the movie for me.
The Shanghai coaches featured in the film were not only harsh but also inefficient, bad instructors. The female coach should be thrown in prison.
There must be many bad coaches in China along with some brilliant ones. In the Chinese coaching tradition they’ve yet to discover “progressions”. Shaping skills with drills.
The Soviet school of coaching is far more sophisticated.
Skip this movie unless you want to see much of 70 minutes devoted to footage of very young children crying.
Some clips from the film are included in this very depressing YouTube montage: Little Chinese gymnasts – Training
Related: A thread of outraged commentary on Chalk Bucket.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 