on Gymnastics in China

Another terrific article by the British journalist Ollie Williams:

At World Championships Rotterdam:

… He, the Olympic uneven bars champion at Beijing 2008 and possessor of the most technically challenging routine in the world, fell spectacularly from the bars minutes earlier – as did her young team-mate, Huang Qiushuang.

… A day later it will be their coach, Lu Shanzhen, standing here under the spotlight of Chinese state television, China’s women having ended a World Championships without a gold medal for the first time since 2002.

As He’s tears flow and the teenager forlornly fights for air beneath a carpet of faces and dictaphones, a journalist from another organisation turns to me and says: “Can you imagine what she’s going to face back home?” …

BBC – Understanding China’s gymnastics powerhouse

(via Full Twist)