Most people probably imagine that a champions' life is filled
with flowers, cheering crowds, honors, a substantial income,
anything but giving "rubdowns" in a room of a public bathhouse.
In a 5-square-meter room within the bathhouse in Changchun, Jilin Province, Zou Chunlan and her husband
have made their home.?A bed, a table and a small TV make up
all their family belongings.
"Sometimes I have to cook two eggs to satisfy my craving for
delicacies when I'm fed up with meals made up of only rice and
cabbage," Zou lamented.
Zou plays a cameo type part in the bathhouse and her daily work
entails her giving guests "rub downs" with a towel. It's 5 yuan
(about 0.6 cents) for a bath and she earns less than 500 yuan
(about US$62.4) per month.
However, in this cramped and dank room there's still something
which shines and makes this 35-year-old woman way above anything
which could be described as ordinary. She won 10-plus weightlifting
medals and among these were four golds.
"Some beautiful medals were given to relatives and they used to
make me proud but today they're just painful memories of the past."
Zou said, fiddling with a medal or two.
Becoming a professional weightlifter at 14, she went on to win
dozens of national championships. In 1988 she broke both jerk and
clean lift (85kg) and total weight (152.5kg) world records in the
women's 44kg category.
A big year for her was 1993 and marked an important turning
point in both Zou's career and her life as she was forced to retire
due to injury after the Seventh National Games. Thereafter Zou was
transferred to work in the weightlifters' mess until she was asked
to leave at the age of 29 by the local athletic administration in
2000 with 80,000 yuan (US$9,986) in compensation. The heavy costs
of her medical treatment and business losses meant the money had
been spent in a short space of time.
However, a fellow-villager invited her and her delivery driver
husband to work in the bathhouse with free lodging and meals as
part of the deal.
Despite her glorious past, Zou feels her life is in fact
inferior to people who've lived ordinary lives and not experienced
her successes. "I received less than three years of elementary
education, and I even don't know Pinyin (phonetic)," she said.
What adds to Zou's bitterness is that the 1.5-meter-tall woman
suffers from virilism which is a result of her taking
strength-improving medicines as part of her training. With rough,
thick hair, raucous voice and a beard which requires regular
shaving, Zou now suffers from a huge inferiority complex.
In order to remain as female as possible, Zou depends on
estrogen hormone medicines which have cost her a great deal but not
improved her condition. To add to the problems she was unable to
have children and there are suspicions that her infertility is a
result of the medicines she took while training.
These days Zou grows weak and she could hardly stand a day's
work from 7 AM to 10 PM. "My heart is not good and the bathroom is
stuffy," she said. "So I often felt dizzy and had difficulties with
my chest."
It seems Zou neglected to study or learn any skills when she was
young but there are long-standing conflicts between the national
sports academy system and the market economy policy that should
take responsibility for Zou's difficult situation.
Following the national training or sports academy methods
derived from the former Soviet Union, the Chinese athletes used to
be called up to the provincial or national teams and were then
capable of getting jobs with the help of labor and personnel
departments after they retired.
Things have changed a lot since the 1980s when the market
economy policy was carried out and job assignments turned into
recommendations. Less than 1 percent of athletes could stay to
coach and the rest had to go back to where they came from,
according to an official of the Jilin provincial sports bureau,
requesting anonymity.
For a long time the national training system has been developed
to win honors for the nation. But under the market economy system,
it's hard for the retired athletes, who began training in their
chosen sport when very young and were unable to receive the
education available to their peers attending normal schools, to be
accepted back into society and find work.
Furthermore, despite that a few sports such as soccer and
basketball have been professional in China, many others get little
or no public attention. Declining disciplines such as
weightlifting, wrestling and judo can only survive based on the
sports academy system.
Of the 3,000-6,000 athletes who retire each year, 40 percent do
not receive timely help and statistics from the State General
Administration of Sports (SGAS) show that the number of retired
athletes had reached 279,000 by 2003.
"To most of the athletes from the same era as Zou, life is very
hard," said Ma Wenguang, director of the weightlifting, wrestling
and judo administration center.
Prior to Zou's tale, the most shocking case was that of the
Asian Games weight-lifting champion, Cai Li, who died of
obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in June 2003. The ex-athlete
worked as a gatekeeper for Liaoning Institute of Sports and
Athletics Technology and his family had savings of only 300 yuan
(US$37) when he died.
Last month the SGAS emphasized at its working conference the
importance of giving medical care to both ex-athletes and coaches
while continuing to improve? insurance cover for the
retired.
Han Dongsheng, deputy director of Jilin Sports Bureau
Heavy-weight Athletic Sports Administrative Center, also pledged to
promote better education for the athletes and enact relevant
regulations which would make subsidies available to former
athletes.
Back to Zou Chunlan's plight. The Beijing Women's Federation has
promised to help her establish a dry cleaning business in
Changchun. Their assistance would include the supply of machinery
for the venture and vocational training. The Jilin Sports Bureau
will settle the housing problem and the Jilin Women's Federation
assist with operating issues relating to the business.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiao, April 18, 2006)
