6. The “Happy Gymnastics”
China’s sports schools excessively train young children to become Olympic champions
In the photo, a coach wipes away the tears of a girl who is feeling exhausted during gymnastics lessons (the “Happy Gymnastics” as the principal, Zhu Zengxiang, coins it) at Shanghai Yangpu Youth Amateur Athletic School in Shanghai, China. Daily Mail reported that this is just one of the many disturbing and heartbreaking photos of underage gymnasts placed in sporting schools that are designed to train future Olympic champions. Apart from the tender age of these kids, they are also being harshly pushed to their physical limits. China’s sports system has been immensely successful until the recent Rio Olympics (2016) wherein, for the first time, they only won two team bronze and was criticized for their “robotic” style.
