Olympics 2012: Why Chinese success is met with suspicion

The Chinese are a very secretive lot. Most of the times they are huddled together, hardly interacting with anyone – be it the athletes, officials or for that matter even the journalists. It’s either a genuine language barrier or a smart way to stay away from the prowling journalists, always keen to know the reasons of their stupendous success.

Perhaps, this is the reason why Chinese success, though much respected by everyone here, is always met with slight suspicion — just as the case was with the Soviet Union and East Germans through the 1960s and 70s. What do they do? How do they train? Well, no one apart from the Chinese knows. Ask them and the response nine times out of 10 is: “No English…”

But the foreign coaches working with different teams shed some light. The reason for Chinese dominance is, what they call, the juguo says Juan Jane Giralt, the Spanish coach of China’s women’s water polo team. It’s the country’s unique sports system which was introduced ahead of the Beijing Olympics. It combines early scouting and hard training with patriotism and the lure of financial gain.

The system is quite like the one the Soviets adopted during the Cold War era. Chinese sports officials travel the country in search of children that display physical features suitable for certain disciplines. They have 20 foreign coaches in various disciplines who provide the expertise to the local coaches. Once chosen, they are placed in special schools for a gruelling regime of training and absolute obedience to the coach. “They work hard, really hard. There is a true passion to win the gold for their country. It’s unimaginable,” Giralt says.

Their 16-year-old swimmer Ye Shiwen, who raised several eyebrows with her stellar performances in the 200m and 400m races, is a product of the juguo. She had been spotted as a seven-year-old at kindergarten, when the size of her hands stood out. It was the start of nine years of training, five hours a day, culminating in Olympic glory. “We worked really hard,” she said.

But Ye’s glory has been met with much suspicion. The western countries blame the country’s closed sporting world. “The thing about Olympics is each country interacts with each other through it. Their athletes may be fierce competitors but they often prepare together and their friendship off the field means that they know a lot about each other,” says a member of the American contingent. “You won’t see that with the Chinese.”

It is true. More often than not, we see a Chinese athlete at major international competitions as virtual unknowns. But what the world thinks doesn’t bother them. If anything, it makes them tougher mentally. “Our concern is not what the world thinks of us. It is what we do. And we want to win gold medals. Right now, our concern is to get good in ball sports. And win medals there,” said the country’s chef de mission Liu Peng.