China's Quest For Gold

Chinese Athletes Pushed To The Limit...

When China's champion 10-meter platform diver lost a retina while training, a year after winning a gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, family members and fans speculated about the imminent end of a great career. The parents of the diver, Hu Jia, had surrendered him to trainers from the Chinese sports establishment at the age of 10, and had seen little of him since then. In an interview with a Chinese newspaper after the diver's injury, his father suggested that this was sacrifice enough. Had he known his son risked blindness, the father said, "I would never have sent him off to dive."