Liu Chunhong was stripped of her 2008 Beijing Olympics medal for doping. (Photo : Getty Images)
A weightlifting gold medalist, Liu Chunhong, is a multiple medal holder and a top Chinese athlete. She won a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
When asked about the success of the Chinese team, Xu Jingfa, a national team coach explained, "You want to know why China is so good at women's weightlifting? It's simple. We do everything together, and we work harder than everyone else. What time to wake up, what time to sleep, how to train, what to eat, how to think - it's all set by our team leaders."
However, Liu and two other weightlifters were banned on Wednesday for testing positive to the drug GHRP-2 and sibutramine.
The athletes, trained from when they were children, sacrificed academics for sports training. A little girl who was training in a sports facility in Shandong takes pills every day as part of her daily routine.
When asked what the pills were for, she answered, "It's medicine to make me strong."
Coaches claim that these are herbal supplements that are like vitamins and food supplements.
The driving force for the athletes and their families to sacrifice their children are done for the sake of national pride and patriotism.
"An athlete without a sense of patriotism can't go too far," said Zhu Qingmin, the director of Hubei province's swimming and diving administration.
However, with the country's one-child policy, many families are reluctant to give their children to the system.
In the past, families had more than one child so if the state could raise one kid, parents would be very happy," said Yao Junying, a gymnastics coach at Huangshi sports school. "But now, most families have just one child so they are reluctant to give their kid over to us completely."
But for families who do decide to sacrifice their family members, they claim that the hardship is worth it. One grandmother of a child in training in a Huangshi sports school attested to this.
"If you truly support your child," she said, cradling her granddaughter, "not telling her [about the death of a family member] so she can focus on training is the right thing to do. I'm prepared."
