SOE

The very young and very cute HE Ke Xin (何可欣) has performed an almost faultless sequence to win the Uneven Bars last night. Her skills and confidence is indisputable. Unfortunately, her age is.

Since He's first appearance in the Beijing Olympics, the controversies surrounding her age have never stopped. Foreign media and Chinese bloggers managed to find news reports back in Nov 2007 that stated He was 13 when she won the Uneven Bars event in the 6th China Intercities Sports Meet.

Beijing Olympics is China's long awaited opportunity to proof to the rest of the world that China is the new super power, and to showcase its achievement after twenty some years of reform and open policies. China has changed a lot in the last 2 decades, but sports is still a State-owned Enterprise ("SOE").

Because it's a SOE, the country has to do everything it can to make sure the enterprise is successful.

Because it's a SOE, it doesn't matter if children are required to leave their families in the ages of 7 or 8 to join training schools thousands of kilometres away. Some would not see their families for many years.

Because it's a SOE, Judo Gold Medalist XIAN Dong Mei (冼东妹) had to leave her 4 months old daughter with her husband when she was recalled to the national team. When Xian's husband brought the daughter to Beijing to visit her last month, she saw and held her little daughter for the first time in close to 2 years.

Because it's a SOE, Weightlifter CAO Lei (曹磊) was told by her coach only after the gold medal has been secured that her mother had died 2 months ago.

Because it's a SOE, LIU Xiang (刘翔) and his coach would need to explain so many times and justify for pulling out of the race, despite almost the entire world could see how painful and frustrated Liu was when he moved up to the starting point. Liu has in fact never fully recovered after he pulled out of the Reebok Grand Prix in May 2008 in New York.

Because it's a SOE, China has stressed over and over again that they need double insurance (双保险) (getting at least 2 athletes into the final round or quarter final) in most of the traditionally China-dominant events like badminton, table tennis, and diving, so as to minimize China's chance of "losing" the gold medal.

Because it's a SOE, CHEN Qi Gang (陈其纲), Music Director of the Opening Ceremony could tell the world very proudly that YANG Pei Er (杨沛儿) was not selected to sing on stage out of consideration of "the country's image" (国家形象) and "national interest" (国家利益).

If sports is in fact an enterprise, China has been more than successful in this year's Olympics. As of tonight, 43 gold medals have been won, already the highest number in China's or any Asian country's history. It appears more and more likely China will win more gold medals than USA in Beijing.

But one has to ask, what is the price that the athletes are paying? What does it mean to the next generation of Chinese?

By the way, most fans of GUO Jing Jing (郭晶晶） would likely have missed a rare documentary aired on CCTV last night. It showed footage of Guo's home and private life, including the showing of a picture of her and Kenneth Fok (霍启刚) on her bookshelf. The documentary actually began with an interview with Guo right after her winning dive on 17 Aug. "Where is your lover? Is he here to watch you dive?" the reported asked. With just a little bit of hesitation, Guo answered "I think he is somewhere outside".

It's rather rare that official Chinese media would become so high profile about a sport star's love life. The documentary is made and aired for a reason.

It's still a stated-own enterprise. China might have changed a lot since the 50's and 60's. But if you are working in the SOE called "Sports", your love life and your marriage are still a matter of the state. The state will need to "approve" that and make the appropriate announcement for you.