Thursday, August 2, 2012

Wanaandaliwa kutwaa medali za dhahabu

Her face etched with pain, a child trains for Olympic glory while her gymnastics trainer stands on her legs.

The cartoon space rockets and animal astronauts on her tiny red leotard are a stark and powerful reminder of this little girl's tender age as she trains as hard as any adult athlete in the Western world.

Nanning Gymnasium in Nanning, China, is one of many ruthless training camps across the country to which parents send their children to learn how to be champions.
Hard training: Her face etched with pain, a child trains for Olympic glory while her gymnastics trainer stands on her legs.
Her face etched with pain, a child trains for Olympic glory while her gymnastics trainer stands on her legs.
Ruthless: Boys and girls who looked no older than five or six-years-old were tasked with swinging on beams, hanging from pairs of rings and bounding across floor mats during the physically strenuous training sessions
 Boys and girls who looked no older than five or six-years-old were tasked with swinging on beams, hanging from pairs of rings and bounding across floor mats during the physically strenuous training sessions.


Winning at all costs: Children are put through their paces doing punishing exercises to toughen them up
 Children are put through their paces doing punishing exercises to toughen them up
Children are trained at camps where the word 'gold' is hung on the wall to make them focus on success
Children are trained at camps where the word 'gold' is hung on the wall to make them focus on success
Young boys and girls are put through their paces at the Chen Jinglun Sports School, the alma mater of Ye Shiwen
Young boys and girls are put through their paces at the Chen Jinglun Sports School, the alma mater of Ye Shiwen

24/7 routine: A child stretches at home during a gymnastics training session in Nanning, China
 A child stretches at home during a gymnastics training session in Nanning, China.
 

No nonsense: The trainers are tough on the children who go through rigorous training schedules
The trainers are tough on the children who go through rigorous training schedules

Stretchy: Gymnastic stars are known for starting at an incredibly early age, and this group of children appear no different as they battled to complete the demanding routines on bars, rings, and mats
Gymnastic stars are known for starting at an incredibly early age, and this group of children appear no different as they battled to complete the demanding routines on bars, rings, and mats


Ruthless: Nanning Gymnasium in Nanning, China, is one of many ruthless training camps across the country to which parents send their children to learn how to be champions
Gymnastic stars are known for starting at an incredibly early age, and this group of children appear no different as they battled to complete the demanding routines on bars, rings, and mats.
While training techniques appear extreme to Western eyes, they provide an insight into why China's athletes at London 2012 seem so easily able to swim, dive, lift and shoot their way to victory

Daily Mail

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