British Olympic rowing great Matthew Pinsent has described China’s training of some young gymnasts for the 2008 Games in Beijing as tantamount to child abuse.
In a report for BBC Radio, Pinsent described children in a Beijing gymnasium being pushed through the pain barrier and said one young boy had clearly been beaten by his coach.
”It was a pretty disturbing experience. I know it is gymnastics and that sport has to start its athletes young but I have to say I was really shocked by some of what was going on,” Pinsent said.
”I was wondering whether the western approach compared to the eastern approach is a bit different but I do think those kids are being abused.”
Pinsent felt the children he had seen were being pushed beyond acceptable limits.
”When I talked to the vice-principals they said hitting was against the law, but then there were parents who want you to do it. They said this is what they needed to do to make them hard.”
Pinsent, a four-times Olympic gold medallist at rowing and a former member of the International Olympic Committee, said he still believed that giving the Games to China would help open the country up to the rest of the world with positive effects for Chinese society.
But he admitted his experience in Beijing had led him to question that view. – AFP
