Your ChiCom un-Olympic moment of the day
Photoshop - Lundesigns
The Olympic creed turned on its head again by the ruthless ChiComs. Damned, damned shame:
Beijing’s ruthless demand for perfection was highlighted when Tan Zongliang was made to squirm on China Central Television after missing out in the men’s 50m pistol competition.
Even though it was his first ever Olympic medal, he was harried until he bowed his head and admitted he had “let his country down” for not getting gold.
His grilling goes against the central belief of International Olympic Committee founder Pierre de Coubertin, who stated: “The important thing is not to win, but to take part.”
…In the interview, a CCTV journalist asked Tan: “In your first shot you only got 7.9 points. What is the reason for this?”
“I was maybe a little bit anxious,” the 36-year-old replied, before adding: “Overall my performance was fine.”
“But you came into the finals leading on points,” the reporter chipped away. “The result really is a shame. Feel bad?”
The reporter continued the grilling until Tan lowered his head and apologised to his motherland.
He said: “I have been doing this sport for 23 years. I have been nurtured by my country in that time. I have let my country down.”
***
Related from ESPN…an encounter with one of the Chinese gymnasts. Sad:
For a few brief moments, it was as if a curtain had parted. We had one of China’s young — perhaps too young — Olympic gymnasts alone.
Yang Yilin, through no fault of her own, has been one of the stories of these games because of questions about whether she and two other gymnasts on the Chinese team are old enough to compete. China insists they are, but that hasn’t erased the doubts that they may be under the minimum age of 16.
Now we had our chance to find out more, to get a close-up look at this 4-foot, 11-inch figure of controversy, as she waited for her medal-winners’ news conference to begin.
…What emerged was a picture of a young girl who has been kept largely cut off from family and the outside world for more than a year, so she could be intensely trained to win medals for China at its own Olympics.
Were your parents here to see you compete, among the cheering crowds?
“I don’t know.”
When was the last time you went home?”
“Ummm … before I joined the national team,” Yang said, her small voice hard to hear.
When was that?
“More than a year ago.”
Will you go on holiday after the games?
“I don’t know.”
How many holidays do you get a year?
“I have not had a holiday since I joined the national team.”
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Categories: Repression
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» Blaming America
Whatever happened to Jim McKay’s line of “The human drama of athletic competition”? Oh, that’s right. These are modern times.
Silly me.
Off to bed.
I think that young man should be offered American citizenship. He’s far more deserving than the 20million illegals who will be granted it after November.
I wonder if BO is gonna do something like this when he loses?
No fun allowed in commie land. These poor people are only as good as their last accomplisment. If it’s a gold medal, then rewards and accolades. If anything less, well, Tan Zongliang will probably get a front seat on the next bus to the work camps.
Next time, try thinking about baseball.
you know it’s bad when the only spokesperson saying anything about chinese arrogance is bela karolyi.
Had to do a double-take when I looked at the 18 August date stamp on the post — it’s still the 17th here on the Left Coast.
Looks like a certain “Michelle M.” — no, that’s too obvious — er, a certain “M. Malkin” is doing her Night Owl routine again, hmm?
Communism…
Don’t let it happen to American. Socialism is the first step. That starts with Obama.
Vote McCain in ‘08 or lose all that is precious.
Just a couple more examples of why the Olympics should never have been awarded to China in the first place.
I’ve enjoyed watching the athletes perform. But the white-washing and ignoring of the communist gov’t, from the coverage to the advertisements is going to present a huge problem in getting people to believe that communism really is an evil system.
Not everybody reads this site, after all.
I didn’t know that Helen Thomas worked for the CCTV!
Great, humiliate your athletes publicly. Have these people no heart?
There is a reason why there is an age limit on gymnasts, specifically, in the Olympics…its for their own well being. All the pounding on their growth plates with these routines. Its intense. Many of these girls may have had irreparable damage already from this…
Communism has no room for humanity.
Putin is helping out.
People need a refresher on a speech Ronald Reagan gave over 25 years ago:
Ya dang well better win yer country a gold medal if ya know what’s good fer ya.
For some reason, I can’t get the picture of an Ivan Drago-in-training out of my head—minus the injections, hopefully (PLEASE don’t name that tune).
Whatever the Chinese did to train, it’s paying off well, but the mental and physical tolls on the athletes may never be fully known.
John McCain did a great job on Saturday, and did a lot to help gain the trust of evangelicals.
However, one thing that stood out like a sore thumb to me was that he chose not to condemn the ChiComs for their religious persecution of Christians, even when he was specifically asked about it.
If you ask John McCain to condemn the un-Olympic behavior described in this post, he would probably avoid answering the question.
We’ve got to realize (and actively resist) the fact that both the Russian Communists and Chinese Communists have a vested interest in influencing our government, and are actively doing so.
I actually like this attitude. This is a capitalistic attitude. This is the attitude that built America. You get a loan, you can’t pay the loan, you are disgraced and embarrassed that you were given an opportunity and you let the person with faith in you down. As a result, your credit is ruined and nobody will loan you money.
This is how America USED TO be. Now it’s Oh, you promised to pay your loan but now you can’t? It’s OK. We all have hard times. What we’ll do is get everyone else who HAS made good on their promise to pay back loans to help pay for your loan.
America is now much more communist than China in this respect.
And this:
is why they won. . . not because they were too young. They were the best in the world of any age because of practice. They should be celebrated instead of ridiculed for ‘being too young’. . . whether they are or not. They won.
I don’t see the big deal? Coaches yell and cuss at players in other sports which is more harsh than a reporter shaming you. They are leading in golds, so the motivation must be working. Michelle maybe you should take your own advice and “Suck it up” and quit being sensitive like a liberal.
It’s typical of a totalitarian government. Unfortunately, it’s the only life/society that these people know. Here, in this country, our transition to a socialist/marxist government is a slow, steady one, so we can adjust, without realizing it.
Individual human life has no value in the fantasy known as communism. But the American left is still confuses communism with Camelot.
Sorry Thacker, but you can win without treating someone like a slave. Numerous gymnasts have done it over the years.
With regards to Karolyi being the only one to protest - that’s because he knows what’s going on from his own experiences in Romania. I’ll be nice to him and stop commenting there.
the problem with her not having a holiday is that she didn’t choose not to have one, just like she didn’t choose to give up two years of her life and a real education to go to the national team. She was compelled to do it.
Typical behavior of these totalitarian regimes. Look at what the East Germans and the Soviets did to their athletes in the 70s. All the drugs they injected them with probably had harmful effects for the rest of their lives.
While I hate the fact that the games are in China, I still want our athletes there. They worked too hard to be denied a chance to compete. Even if the playing field is uneven, it all the more tasty when they win.
… and another example of “ruthless demand” was the Iraqi athletes, driven by Uday (or Qusay - forgot which).
Those poor guys faced torture and death if they didn’t perform up to (forgot which)’s expectations…
This young girl’s handlers are the people that the IOC deemed the kind of country that should host thousands of Olympians.
Is the IOC run by the United Nations or something? Convince me otherwise. Yeah. Right.
This group is refusing to leave customs in China until the get 300 Bibles back.
No problems here….President Obama will talk to China and with his briliant arguments will convence them to “make nice” and there will be peace in the whole wide world. no one will ever remember that evil oil men almost ruined the Peace.
My problem with watching the Olympics is having to listen to NBC tell what a great job China has done to make all this happen. As soon as it is over, China will go back to its normal, horrific ways with the Chinese people. The young gymnast may never see her family again.
PERHAPS?
I’ve got jeans older than her. She needs to change her name to Jon Benet Yilin.
Yang Yilin is, sadly, the way some families are in China. Often, if a family is too poor to raise a child on their own, they’ll drop them off at some organization like that.
Communist countries in general have a long, sad history of cheating in the Olympics. I remember many instances where Russia was accused of cheating through the use of performance enhancing drugs, etc.
Maybe you could Suck. It. Up. and go over to china. Since you love what they’re doing, you would fit right in, and we wouldnt have to listen to your mindless banter.
Everyone wins.
I’d hardly call taking a child away from her family and working her non-stop in gymnastics “motivating”.
It is all to paint a Great Big Smiley Face on China in the court of world opinion. When they start doing nasty things, people will just remember the GBSF and look the other way.
What ThackerAgency calls capitalism is actually the way the French see things: if you fail in business using other people’s money you are a disgrace and personally ruined.
How many French companies are there today with world-shaking technologies and products, financed by PRIVATE money?
Luckily, that’s not American capitalism at all. If it were, there would be no such thing as venture capitalists, people willing to stake start-ups with the understanding that they will be lucky if one in ten pays off, really big.
In any case, comparing kids FORCED to leave their homes to serve (not join) a team to people who WILLINGLY take out business loans is simply stupid.
It’s an iron curtain joke.. but I think it still applies to China..
A teacher asks children in his class what they want to be when they grow up. First child: “Russia is my mother, Lenin is my father; I want to be an engineer.” Second child: “Russia is my mother, Lenin is my father; I want to be a nurse.” Third child: “Russia is my mother, Lenin is my father; I want to be an army officer.” Fourth child: “Russia is my mother, Lenin is my father; I want to be an orphan.”
I have done my own personal boycott of the olympics this summer. I have only gone online to see a tape of Phelps’ wins. No TV in our house is tuned to NBC. China is all facade. Their human rights issues alone should have been enough for the IOC to choose another venue.
For China, this was to be their time to show the world they have arrived. But to me, its no surprise that their olympics have been nothing but a sham.
And Jim McKay has gone to that great Wide Wide World of Sports in the sky. I do miss him.
I am sure the punishment for not winning is painfull enough to motivate anyone.
Communism has stolen the country. They then “invest” in its youth. A failed gold medal is not getting a return on that investment.
But the Olympics are exposing communism badly. I work with some Chinese coworkers who despite national pride are fed up with the Chinese government. The Olympics is doing more harm to the communist government than benefit. It exposes them. (Just as this blog exposes Obama).
Mind numb robots. When you look at the expressions on most of the Chinese competitors you sense a forboding in their minds. They know they are under the state microscope.
On August 18th, 2008 at 2:22 am, ThackerAgency said:
With one minor exception: Americans chose of their own free will to do things that made this country great. It’s not exactly capitalism if the government’s forcing you to do it.
I will only say that I’m glad ThackerAgency is not MY boss!
#16 nero said:
Judging from most of your comments, I’m not surprised.
In free societies, one has the right and the ability to walk away from degradation. Under totalitarian regimes, it is amazing that these Chinese athletes were even allowed to give a glimpse into the irreversible hells that they are living in.
Unquestionably true. China is also leading in forced abortions, forced organ donations and forced imprisonment in labor camps for various personal beliefs. Care to give them a gold medal for that too?
(Chuckle) Please learn to dissect your misplaced equivocation between free and oppressed societies before misusing one of MMs monikers (Suck it up) regarding matters of personal responsibility.
The funny part about your insertion into this topic is - through their limited and controlled comments, Tan Zongliang and Yang Yilin demonstrate a greater understanding of what freedom is than your entire diatribe here today.
I hope you understand this?
I think we’ll be seeing Tan Zongliang touring the world soon…as part of the Bodies exhibit :P.
Anybody see how that American gymnast was hosed in the vault competition last night, giving the bronze to a Chinese girl who flubbed her routine? Bela Karolyi flat out declared it a ripoff. The good news is because the North Korean girl won, she and her family will get to eat! Yay!
China’s biggest sports star is always snappy with the media and you can see why. She gets away with it because she wins. There were unsubstantiated rumours about her earlier this Spring, that she was pregnant, and officials wanted to force her to have an abortion. I’m not trying to add to the rumour, but one can imagine that they would force her into one, or make up stories to keep her in line (or maybe they’re just rumours). Sad. (And some of the most beautiful dives you can imagine.) Said it before, the Chinese government sucks but the people will benefitt from contact with the West.
This is not freedom. These children who start training at the age of 3 and who see their parents only once or twice a year are not in a free society. This should not be celebrated. It is as much of a labor camp as in the days of Mao. Watch this video of this gym that has trained 4 world champions in the last 10 years and you will see children between the ages of 3-9 being “trained”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7NZ97gekZk
「 神 愛 世 人 ， 甚 至 將 他 的 獨 生 子 賜 給 他 們 ， 叫 一 切 信 他 的 ， 不 至 滅 亡 ， 反 得 永 生 。
因 為 神 差 他 的 兒 子 降 世 ， 不 是 要 定 世 人 的 罪 （ 或 作 ： 審 判 世 人 ； 下 同 ） ， 乃 是 要 叫 世 人 因 他 得 救 。
約 翰 福 音 3:16-17
Chinese Union Version (Traditional) (CUV)
BrianNy do you have a crush on me? It seems every forum I post on you follow me around. Are you a larry craig conservative?
#46 nero said:
My bad, nero, I thought you were a liberal representative of the fairer sex!
Oh well, it wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve judged a book by its cover.
Regardless, I’m drawn to your arguments in particular because I find them to be hastily drawn and easily assailable.
Take this thread for example. You previously asserted:
In amateur sports (eg. Little League Baseball) this might be true, but our good hostess was addressing Olympic athletes in the context of China. You are obviously not familiar with the pressures brought down from a corrupt, centralized authoritarian government like Beijing, nor do you understand the corrupt and deadly tactics of the “police state” governments which control the majority of China’s rural areas, with Beijing’s permission of course.
I can assure you, the result of falling on the bad side of these government officials is not equatable with your examples of “harsh coaches” or “shaming reporters” here in the US. In fact, you can measure the fear of government reprisal by the majority of Chinese silence and in their reflex facial reactions whenever an honest question is asked.
You also asserted:
I didn’t understand your point here, so I just accepted it as an “ends justifies the means” defense on your part. I just think it’s important to remind you that, while motivation works in many countries like China, it is not always humane nor is it happy. For example, I could motivate you to do a lot of athletic things by threatening you and/or your family with a host of horrible outcomes, but that would hardly be in the Olympic spirit, would it?
You summarized by saying:
This, by far, was your most absurd statement. To commingle the sorry human conditions of many within an authoritative system of government like China’s, no less their star athletes, with MM’s previous articles concerning irresponsible borrowing behavior on the part of some Americans…is not only mixed fruit, it is an underdeveloped way of trying to score an illegitimate point against our hostess.
nero, you seem like a hasty debater, but no less, you are probably a good natured person at heart. Take a note - you don’t always have to mention the first thing that comes to the top of your head. Read the entire thread, give it some thoughtful consideration, and then proffer your wisdom. You also don’t have to know everything in the world, but it helps to know a little bit. For instance, the first time I joined this site, I got hot-headed and ended up being schooled by a contributor called “chapoutier” over actual, reported, federal hate-crime statistics. I thanked him for the information and I moved on. We’re all friends here. Sometimes, it’s even nice to learn a thing or two.
Finally, to answer your question, I don’t have a crush on you. But I have learned to keep on my toes with you, because that “Larry Craig” rebuttal was a real zinger! Ouch!
Onward and upward, nero. You’ll got the hang of this soon.
Sorry for being a prick BrianNY
Rating - It’s a slow roller to the pitcher - but with Malkin’s great hustle - she is safe at first! (nice ump)
OK - we all know China is a repressive state. I’ve heard better examples than the 2 cited - from just watching the fantastic NBC coverage.
Guo JingJing, China’s mega-star diver is one example. After Athens, she was getting numerous contracts for endorsements and other money making opportunities. The Chinese government essentially told her to stop it and get back to training - or she would not compete in 2008.
On more of a non-political, cultural observation - her Chinese fans are so crazy about her - they did not heed the warnings against taking flash pictures during her dives. This must have drove the Chinese security inside The Cube - nuts.
These hundreds of flashes going off as she dove, were worth more than a “thousand words”.
Tell me Olympic detractors, would these flashes of civil disobedience be occuring, if the Olympics were not being held in Beijing?
(Help Stop Comment Abuse - 3 or less per post is sane.)
Is this rule in MM’s TOS? Otherwise, I don’t understand your point.
Simply scroll to those posts that interest you and ignore the rest.
BrianNY,
Consider it my own contribution in trying to reduce global warming….
It’s just a suggestion to cut down on some of the the trolling and other cyber-freakish behavior going on…hopefully more formalized measures will some day be implemented …
(no wonder Bill O Reilly encourages only short pithy comments)
Thanks for not posting no more than 3 comments under this particular post.
I think you ask me a fair question in this case …but I want you to know ..I will not respond to any further questions or comments towards me from you. I just prefer to basically make one comment under a post and move on. Thanks.
(Stop Comment Abuse - After 4 go out the door)
(Maybe I should unfurl this banner in China?)