Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Figure Skating

I saw a short bit of the Olympic coverage when I got home from work and they were talking about the the Chinese pair (Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao) who won the silver medal yesterday. They were talking about the fall that the girl took after they did their big throw. That got me interest enough that I checked it out on TIVO. (The athletic trainer in me is always interested in a good crash/possible injury.) The crash looked very painful, but she took a minute and then continued with the program and they won the silver. After they finished the announcer made a statement about how the couple was 20 and 21 years old and had probably only seen their families for one to two weeks in the last 7 to 8 YEARS.

I always knew that China picked children with athletic talent and then trained them away from their families, but never really thought about it until tonight. Can you imagine?!?!? The poor kids have been away from their families for at least 7 years. I wonder if their parents even know what has happened. Did they get to watch the two of them come through the crash and do a beautiful job? Did they feel the same pride as the parents of an athlete whose parents could be sitting in the stands cheering on their child? Will they get to see their children when they return to China? It just seems like such a crazy situation to me.

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