Run run run.......

So the wait of 4 years is finally over.

And Olympics is back again with a bang.

I was watching the games and was stuck in awe with the Chinese athletes. They seem to be doing well in most of the disciplines.

What is it I thought, that could bring success to them equally in weightlifting as in gymnastics, swimming as in archery. Is it talented kids, good facilities, dedicated trainers, sports incentives from the government? What is it, I thought.

Curious, I did a little research on the net.

And the results stunned me.

The Chinese have, what you can call a grind mill.. a set path for each sport.

Let me give you an example:
Take Basketball for instance. The Chinese are not known to be tall. So how can they succeed in a game like basketball? They device a plan. They start monitoring parents who are tall and track their kids as and when they are born. A note is send to the parents to send these kids to the basketball training facility at a tender age of four. These kids are then nurtured by trainers who look for kids that have the talent in them to make the cut. The rest are send back or redeployed to other sports. These kids then start their training at the National Basketball Training Facility. The best of the best are taken in the Chinese Basketball Association and groomed further. Heard of Yao Ming, have you? Read Operation Yao Ming and you will understand what I am talking about.

And this is the same for all sport in China.

The thing is, I am a little depressed after reading all this. This system of the Chinese seems to give the athletes the success but somehow the childhood seems to get lost. The system seems to be too much robotic, harsh. Or am I biased.....