A tale of two athletes

China's former diving champion Tian Liang used to say that his biggest dream was to win an Olympic championship in Beijing, or, in his words, "to get a gold medal at home, and that is the highest glory one can achieve".

Tian did win a gold medal in the 2004 Athens for synchronized swimming and a bronze for the 10 m platform event. He also won gold in the 10 m platform competition in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

But as the Beijing Olympics continues and as China's diving team wins several gold medals in Water Cube, Tian is not among them.

As the younger divers gain glory, gold and applause, Tian is on the sidelines working as a guest analyst for a website, discussing the skills of the younger divers and telling the audience what a gold medal looks like.

Though the life he leads now seems far away from his dream, the 28-year-old former diver has realized a new dream.

Several months before the Games, when asked how he felt about missing the Beijing Olympics, Tian said his dream now is "to become a father during the Olympic year". That dream came true when he and his wife - a former "Super Girl" singer - became the parents of a baby girl in May.

His apparent joy, however, has not come without a lot of controversy.

As one of the most popular Chinese athletes, Tian's story underlines how the fate of an athlete can change when their personal motives and style clashes with the rules of the rigid Chinese national sports system.

Unlike most Chinese athletes who are quiet and often shy away from media, Tian was charismatic and active in front of cameras. With graceful dives and a smiling, handsome face. Tian was dubbed the "diving prince" by fans and media

He also became a commercial darling after his victories in Sydney and Athens and endorsed a range of products ranging from shampoo to healthcare products. He also attended fashion shows and promotion events for various enterprises.

Tian even reportedly signed a contract with an entertainment company with an eye on becoming a film and pop music star. But he drew wide criticism after going to Malaysia to record an album shortly after the area was struck by the tsunami on December 26, 2004 that killed tens of thousands.

Meanwhile, media gossip was abuzz concerning his relationship with fellow gold medal diver Guo Jingjing, who won two in the Athens Olympics. Their off-the-boards relationship fed the mainland and Hong Kong gossip machines until a breakup that later saw her photographed frequently with Hong Kong heir and playboy Kenneth Fok Kai-kong, grandson of the late Hong Kong business tycoon Henry Fok.

Tian, meanwhile, briefly hit rocky ground in January 2005 when the national swim team announced he'd been kicked off due to his many commercial endorsements and glitzy public lifestyle.

"Tian Liang has seriously violated the regulations of the General Administration of Sport, adversely influencing preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games," a sports administration official named Li Hua was quoted as saying.

"Tian has offended respected customs of the society," claimed Wei Jizhong, the former vice-chairman of China Olympic Committee.

In a public letter to the media, Tian said he was "shocked" by the news. With hope of getting back to the national team, Tian later went to the Shannxi provincial team to continue his training. But as the younger athletes improved and hope for him dimmed, Tian announced his retirement from diving in 2007.

Wei said under the current system in which the government pays all the training fees for the athletes, athletes do not belong to themselves. "There is nothing wrong with making commercials, but they (athletes) should be responsible for their own images," said Wei.

While the controversy and debates continue, Tian remains active in the public eye and still lives a fashionable life. Shortly after retirement, he married Ye Yiqian, one of the "Super Girls" in a televised singing contest, known as the Chinese version of American Idol. He is also doing his own business and shooting movies.

Pictures of Tian doing yoga and posing with his pregnant wife are still in fashion magazines and widely circulated on the Internet.

A broken dream

Unlike Tian Liang, who still enjoys the fame that diving brought him even after early retirement, most athletes are forgotten shortly after their sports career ends.

For Zou Chunlan, a female weightlifter who broke the world record in 1980s, life after sports is extremely hard. Among the 14 medals she won, four are gold and represent the times she broke the Chinese women's record and the time she broke the world record.

Zou won the second place in snatch, and the first in clean and jerk in a national weightlifting championship in 1987. In 1988, she won three gold medals in a national championship and broke the world record in the clean and jerk.

But in 1993, Zou didn't win any medal in the 7th National Athletic Games due to injuries. Shortly after that, she retired.

After working as a waitress in the national sports canteen for the weightlifting team, Zou left the team and sank into obscurity until about 2006 when a customer at a public bathhouse in Changchun, a city in northeast China's Jilin province, recognized that her masseuse was a former national weightlifting champion.

The customer was surprised but Zou only felt embarrassed about being recognized.

At the time, Zou said that massage work seemed to be the only job that she was capable of doing. She had been recruited for the national team as a child and had little more than a third grade education. "I don't even understand pinyin," she said at the time. She was making about 600 yuan a month at the bathhouse.

"This job takes nothing but my strength, and I don't have any skill except my strength," Zou later wrote on her blog.

She said she tried different careers after retiring, including selling roast mutton on the street and raising chickens. But none of them worked out.

At last, she found a job in the bathhouse with the hope of saving enough money so that she could go back to the countryside with her husband, and make a living as a farmer.

At the time she was interviewed Zou was living with her husband in a room less than 5 sq m. Inside there was only a bed, a table with a small TV set on it, and a bag of eggs.

"We eat rice and cabbage all the time. When we cannot bear it anymore, we fry two eggs," said Zou in a 2006 interview.

Zou would sometimes look at the 14 medals she won but they didn't bring happy memories.

"I used to be proud of these medals, but now they have only left painful memories," said Zou.

But an even more painful moment was when she was on the street and kids often called her "uncle" because of her hoarse voice and the heavily built physique as a result of long-term weightlifting training.

Some people say Zou won the championships at a wrong time in China when sports were not as commercialized, especially an unpopular sport such as female weightlifting.

And the nonstop training thwarted athletes from acquiring other skills to make a living after retirement.

"When I was training, I never thought of money," said Zou. "I did not even think that in the future I would need a job to make a living."

Under limelight again

Luckily, after Zou's plight was reported, she drew public attention again. The local branch of the All China Women's Federation helped her with a startup investment of 10,000 yuan as well as some equipment, and she used the money to open a laundry in Changchun.

A hospital in Chongqing also gave her free plastic surgery to remove her masculine, worn appearance. With newly tattooed eyebrows and and wrinkles removed, Zou said that she was happy with her new look.

On her blog, she posted pictures of herself with her husband posing and smiling in wedding dresses.

With the help from a foundation, she was also able to show up and watch the Olympic games in person. However, she arranged to watch a soccer match, not weightlifting.

Zou says she feels content, but could not spend too much time watching the Beijing Games due to her laundry duties in Changchun.

"There is still a lot of pressure running the laundry - I have to pay 30,000 yuan a year for rent," said Zou.

(China Daily 08/18/2008 page3)