Zhang Shangwu, a champion gymnast at the 2001 Beijing Universiade had to retire from competitive sports after an injury and was forced to steal and beg for survival. Passers-by saw him performing some gymnastic moves at a Beijing subway station recently to get some money. If Li Na reflects the success an athlete can achieve after leaving the State sports system, Zhang's condition points to the other extreme, says an article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

Once the State stops providing for athletes in non-marketized or non-professional sports, they can easily fall in financial trouble.

In the country's pyramidal sports system, many retired athletes' conditions are similar to Zhang Shangwu's. But very few people know about them.

The problem is that there is no transparent contract between the State and the athletes. Though the sports system takes care of athletes' daily life, it does not offer them enough education or teach them skills to lead a decent life after their career ends.

Of course, Zhang should not have committed theft, and was rightly jailed for his crime. But had there been a legally binding, more transparent and impartial contract stipulating the rights and liabilities between athletes and the country, injured sportsmen could have led better lives and those like Zhang wouldn't have to steal to survive.

Since all the training costs come from taxpayers' money, the expenses on athletes and the benefits and commercial gains they get should be transparent.

Also, a binding contractual system would help better protect athletes' rights and ensure that they are not reduced to begging after retirement or suffering career-ending injuries.

To build a society ruled by law, we have to establish an impartial, open and rightful contractual system that regulates rights and obligations of both parties.

(China Daily 07/26/2011 page9)