Inside China’s ‘win at any cost’ Olympic ‘Big Red Machine’ with child boot camps, DNA selection & steroid controversies

CHINA are one of the most successful countries in Olympics history thanks to their chilling ‘win at any cost’ attitude that sees athletes brutally forced into success.

The powerhouse nation – dubbed the “Big Red Machine” – has become known for their military-style training camps for young children, invasive DNA testing and even severe steroid controversies.

GettyA young boy is made to lift heavy weights at a young age in China[/caption]

ReutersA child can be seen crying as she trains gymnastics in a Chinese training centre[/caption]

AlamyChinese coaches are often very vocal on the sidelines towards their players[/caption]

GettyThe athletes are often subjected to military practices to develop their athletic abilities[/caption]

AlamyThe athletes are expected to compete for gold in every event due to their intense training regiments leading up to an Olympics[/caption]

China has consistently been in the top four placed countries for overall medals at every Olympic Games since Seoul 1988.

In the past two decades only the US has managed to beat their medal tally at the Games – a feat many believe has been achieved through their rigorous and demanding training regimes.

A Soviet-style plan was developed in the nation in the 1950s as China looked to earn a place amongst the world’s sporting elites.

This saw coaches recruit school kids into Olympic training teams from ages as young as four.

Pushing them to their limits until they perfect their craft and are deemed ready to compete on a global stage.

Johannah Doecke, a diving coach at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in the US, said female Chinese athletes are “literally beaten into submission”.

With any athlete refusing to complete another set of exercises due to fatigue or injuries being “chastised or slapped around,” she added.

Ex-athletes have also come out in recent years blasting the government-funded ploy that puts success and medals above entertainment and sportsmanship.

Each Olympics winners medal has cost China at least $7 million since their goals became gold, claim NBC News.

Chinese athletes are said to train for up to 12 hours a day in the run up to a huge sporting event.

Many of them are made to move into a boarding school environment to share beds with their teammates in order to build up to glory.

This can result in them not seeing their family and friends for years at a time.

In the lead up to Paris 2024, Shanghai put on a military camp for athletes in team sports.

Almost 1,000 people turned up and were dressed head-to-toe in combat uniforms.

Shanghai’s sports bureau said the training sessions were intended to “strengthen the sports teams’ organisational discipline and teamwork, helping Shanghai sports create an iron army”.

It added: “From dawn until broad daylight, the athletes move neatly and in unison, their youth military uniforms showing off a young and elegant manner.”

Others view some of China’s sporting success as down to performance enhancing drugs after a number of steroid related controversies in the past.

Prior to Tokyo 2020, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a performance-enhancing banned substance.

They were eventually allowed to compete at the Games, after authorities accepted China’s explanation that athletes had consumed contaminated food while staying together at a hotel.

Fury has been reignited at Paris 2024 after Chinese swimming ace Pan Zhanle broke a world record as he stormed to gold on Wednesday.

Aussie coach and former Olympian Brett Hawke quickly cast doubt on Pan’s incredible performance saying such a wide margin of victory “is not humanly possible”.

He then added: “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

CHILD TRAINING CAMPS

One of the most intense ways China continues to bring home gold medals is through their ruthless mindset ingrained into children from a young age.

Sports officials select and train children as young as four as they hunt for Chinese glory at the Olympics.

With a whopping population of over 1.4billion, China uses a sprawling state-backed operation to push budding athletes to extreme lengths.

They seek out the most promising youngsters through a serious of tests for school children such as press-ups, endurance running and bench press – prioritising brute strength over skill. 

Elite pupils are then shipped off to China’s National Training Centre to give up their future to focus on becoming an Olympian.

Many Chinese parents are lured into sending their kids to the brutal sports schools by government subsidies and promising Olympic careers for their children.

AlamyAthletes who are unsuccessful are left devastated due to the national pride in China[/caption]

Arguments often break out between team matesAlamy

GettyThe training is often brutal and ruthless from a young age[/caption]

Disturbing pictures show children being trained at a Chinese gymnastics school.

Some can be seen hanging from bars with tears running down their face as a trainer bellows orders.

In another picture, a young boy can be seen squatting with a heavy barbell on his shoulders with a heartbreaking grimace on his face as his coach puts him through his paces.

Many of their young bodies are left badly damaged after just a few years of competing due to the intensive training.

GENETIC TESTING

Since the 2022 Winter Olympics, Chinese athletes were reportedly forced to undergo key genetic tests as part of their official selection process.

This was supposedly done to make sure there was no “ticking time bomb” in their genes that could hamper their process at the Games.

China’s Ministry of Science and Technology said at the time “complete genome sequencing” would be carried out on the athletes to test “for speed, endurance and explosive force”, the South China Morning Post reports.

Experts have slammed the way the Chinese government puts pressure on their young athletes.

Many have described the methods used as what is seen in the military – highlighting the win at all costs mindset.

Layne Vandenberg, an expert in Chinese sport from King’s College London, told The Sun Online: “In China, training a physical body and competing on a global stage like the Olympic Games is equivalent to defending the nation.

“This concept manifests in athletic training that may reflect military-style training and culture, which is characterised as more demanding and, at times, brutal.”

STEROID CONTROVERSIES

The Chinese have been caught up in several doping allegations in the past five years.

Prior to Tokyo 2020, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a performance-enhancing banned substance.

They were eventually allowed to compete at the Games, after authorities accepted China’s explanation that athletes had consumed contaminated food while staying together at a hotel.

Athletes caught taking banned substances are typically given a lengthy ban from competing.

However 11 of those athletes are now at Paris 2024 – competing for gold.

Multi-time US swimming medallist Katie Ledecky told reporters this week allowing the Chinese athletes to compete is “disappointing”.

The US anti-doping agency, USADA, even accused the Olympic organisers of letting China “compete under a different set of rules, tilting the field in their favour”.

An independent investigation also found that the case was handled correctly.

Despite the controversy Chinese swimmers headed to Paris were actually drug-tested twice as much as some other major nations.

AlamyPictures out of China show the grimacing faces of young children training together[/caption]

What’s happening today at The Games?

WHAT TO WATCH TODAY…

TODAY’S BRIT MEDAL HOPES

Water takes centre stage on Day 6 as Joe Clarke eyes canoe slalom kayak gold (4.30pm).

In the rowing, the women’s four should claim gold while the men’s four and women’s double sculls will know they can get on the podium, too (10.15am). 

And after our men won the 4x200m freestyle relay, the women could add a medal in the pool tonight (8.48pm).

BRITS TO WATCH

Defending champ Beth Shriever and Tokyo silver medallist Kye Whyte begin their BMX racing event at the quarter-finals (from 7pm).

Bryony Pitman (9am), Penny Healey (4.14pm) and Alex Wise (5.05pm) are all in archery action. 

Andy Murray’s swansong with Dan Evans continues – they face Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals (3.30pm). 

And the golf starts today, meaning Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick will tee off for GB, with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry flying the flag for Ireland (from 8am).

GLOBAL STARS TODAY

World No1 Scottie Scheffler leads an all-star USA golf team, though, alongside Open champ Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Wyndham Clark. 

French Open champ Iga Swiatek is the heavy favourite for the women’s tennis singles gold ahead of her semi-final before Carlos Alcaraz then Novak Djokovic go in the men’s quarters (from 11am). 

FANCY SOMETHING DIFFERENT? 

Volleyball is an ever-present throughout the Olympics, running from Day 1 all the way to Day 16, all of it in the catchy-named South Paris Arena 1.

Tokyo runners-up Brazil face Japan (12pm) and hosts France vs China (8pm) in the pick of the clashes. 

STATS MAD

3:50 – Who doesn’t love a competitive brisk walk? 

The athletics officially begins with the men’s and women’s 20km race walks today (6.30am and 8.20am). 

The world record is a staggering 1:16.36 – that’s an average of 3m50s per km while WALKING. 

Follow all the action as it unfolds with our Paris 2024 Olympics LIVE blog.