Chinese diver Wu Minxia

maglite

Chinese diver Wu Minxia's celebrations at winning a third Olympic gold medal were cut short after her family revealed the details of a devastating secret they had kept for several years.

Wu's parents decided to withhold news of both the death of her grandparents and of her mother's long battle with breast cancer until after she won the 3-meter springboard in London so as to not interfere with her diving career.

http://siouxcityjournal.com/sports/olympics/family-kept-grandparents-deaths-secret-from-chinese-diver-until-she/article_3eb110b9-ab83-53f3-939d-f5ce83045d55.html

I could understand not telling her the night before. But waiting a couple years, seems a little excessive.

MagicMarker

Meh, they're only grandparents.

smcgiff

maglite wrote: »

http://siouxcityjournal.com/sports/olympics/family-kept-grandparents-deaths-secret-from-chinese-diver-until-she/article_3eb110b9-ab83-53f3-939d-f5ce83045d55.html

I could understand not telling her the night before. But waiting a couple years, seems a little excessive.

The first word of your title explains it.

But she couldn't have bothered about them much if she didn't manage to see them for 3 years.

Praetorian Saighdiuir

The Chinese, a great bunch of liars!

Pantsface

MagicMarker wrote: »

Meh, they're only grandparents.

naughty.

BarnhallBull

smcgiff wrote: »

The first word of your title explains it.

But she couldn't have bothered about them much if she didn't manage to see them for 3 years.

Exactly, if she didn't notice that her Grandparents were dead after 3 years then they mustn't have been very close!

NoQuarter

How many mothers does she have? I'm confused.

MadsL

BarnhallBull wrote: »

Exactly, if she didn't notice that her Grandparents were dead after 3 years then they mustn't have been very close!

Jesus, way to prejudge her. Firstly her parents died more than a year ago, not three years. Secondly Minxia left home to be part of a government aquatic sports institute - training for a gold medal she probably was kept fairly isolated.

Sauve

I can kinda see their logic in this tbh.
As already said, she can't have been that close to her grandparents.
To realise her dream of reaching and possibly winning a medal in the Olympics would take focus and strength that most of us could never reach.

All they were trying to do was help her get there, telling her about her mum being sick wasn't going to help anyone, and possibly shatter her chances of competing.
Obviously devastating news to receive now, but sometimes it makes sense to put emotions aside for the time being and just go get the job done.

Vicar in a tutu

She probably took the last packet of monster munch or something and annoyed them:eek:

Bannasidhe

smcgiff wrote: »

But she couldn't have bothered about them much if she didn't manage to see them for 3 years.

well considering that

In China, athletes are often taken away from their families at a young age and placed in specialist training schools where they practice for hours every day. Wu began training daily at a diving camp at the age of 6. By the time she was 16, she had left home to be installed in a government aquatic sports institute.

your comment is a bit harsh.

padd b1975

NoQuarter wrote: »

How many mothers does she have? I'm confused.

ABOUT THREE FIDDY!!!!!:cool:

Riddle101

Bannasidhe wrote: »

In China, athletes are often taken away from their families at a young age and placed in specialist training schools where they practice for hours every day. Wu began training daily at a diving camp at the age of 6. By the time she was 16, she had left home to be installed in a government aquatic sports institute.

Wow it's like something you'd see in a movie, except instead of a child being turned into a soldier or some sort of killing machine, they're turned into athletes.

weirdtodamoon

Its a fairly harsh way of training people, but dammit it gets results!

Where To

I'd consider that akin to child abuse tbh.

girl in the striped socks

Wonder how that's going to affect her in years to come when the training relaxes & her career is over.
They make some sacrifices.

Royal Irish

BarnhallBull wrote: »

Exactly, if she didn't notice that her Grandparents were dead after 3 years then they mustn't have been very close!

I doubt she had much choice in the matter. Probably all Chinese Olympic athletes live in a guarded Olympic village in a secret location in China, training 7 days a week and if they try to escape they get chased by a large white sphere named Rover.

JupiterKid

Is it really worth it to be taken away from your family and loved ones as a small child so that you are effectively programmed into being a robotically perfect athlete? What sort of a life did Wu Minxia have over the past decade - any love or affection or joy in it at all?

I think not. That is appalling treatment of this girl and just shows how human rights count for so little in China - national prestige takes precedence and if that means hurting and damaging small children along the way then so be it.:mad::(

Where To

JupiterKid wrote: »

Is it really worth it to be taken away from your family and loved ones as a small child so that you are effectively programmed into being a robotically perfect athlete? What sort of a life did Wu Minxia have over the past decade - any love or affection or joy in it at all?

I think not. That is appalling treatment of this girl and just shows how human rights count for so little in China - national prestige takes precedence and if that means hurting and damaging small children along the way then so be it.:mad::(

In fairness this also goes on in more 'progressive' countries than China.

ejmaztec

I wonder if the disqualified Chinese badminton players will ever be seen alive again?

Pottler

insert funny chinese dialogue, with lots of rrr's, pun on "you minx" and some glanny references. Slip in a "child abuse" reference for the PC brigade, and somthing about muff diving for the smutters. Job done.

Giselle

She must have been close to the Grandparents if they thought their deaths would affect her so much it would jeopardise her medal chances.

Its pretty inhuman to isolate a person from their families to that extent, even if it seems culturally acceptable in China.

uch

With a name like WU, all i can think of is Blur's, Song 2

archer22

JupiterKid wrote: »

Is it really worth it to be taken away from your family and loved ones as a small child so that you are effectively programmed into being a robotically perfect athlete? What sort of a life did Wu Minxia have over the past decade - any love or affection or joy in it at all?

I think not. That is appalling treatment of this girl and just shows how human rights count for so little in China - national prestige takes precedence and if that means hurting and damaging small children along the way then so be it.:mad::(

In the far east people think of and work for a good future...unlike Irelands "love and affection" now and the rest of your life on the dole.And there is plenty of "joy" in being a national hero and giving yourself and your family a secure future.Its just one of those cultural differences that many people in Ireland could never understand.