Criminal torture. Cruel.

I see the Gold price has gone up.

Photo is out of context. Kids scream and cry regularly. The foot isn't actually putting any weight on her.

Anyway, it's a Chinese girl. It's either that or being dumped in the woods.

Can't be entirely sure, as we can't see the heavily bandaged feet.

The dailymail has been shit stirring again have they...

Full article here

"First we blame the Chinese for doping, when that fail we blame them for their inhumane training. What next?"

I couldn't agree more...

What's your point Phil? That life sucks for some people, but that it only feels real to us when we see a picture of suffering on the internet?

Or that one picture has finally awoken the reality that China has a cruel regime with regular abuses of basic human rights?

Comment from DM reader:

"This is nothing new. The Soviet used to be just as regimented with their athletes. It shows hard work and focus pays off. Success always comes after many sacrifices. This is not confined just to sports: scientists, explorers etc all have to endure hardship to achieve their goals. Don't be so soft DM, and make out China to be the villain. This mentality probably explains why our mollycoddled athletes cannot rival theirs."

HOLD THE FRONT PAGE!

The Daily Mail prints absolute gobsh*te! Amazing revelation!!

As a (possibly overprotective) father of a girl not much younger than this, this picture will give me nightmares and for once I am geniunely revulsed.

And specifically to the picture - exactly what is the "coach" trying to train here? I can see no possible fitness or flexiblity benefit of this activity being inflicted on the poor girl. And what's with her legs?

Appalling.

The daughter of one of my colleagues is a world cup ski racer (Tessa Worley ) and while I'm not sure this qualifies as torture her mother told me that until Tessa was 10 she never saw summer.
She was skiing before she could walk here, and then as the Swiss/French ski season was coming to an end they would move to New Zealand for 6 months.

i couldn't work out what was going on either. i think it may be training for her arms i.e. her legs are on something and her body is raised by her arms and the foot is providing additional weight load for her to lift.

If I tread a animal like this ,I would end up in the slammer .The EFer skin me alive

Looks to me like it's a tendons stretching exercise, it's painful but has to be done if she wants to be a flexible gymnast.

No pain no again...

The problem for me is that this type of journalism is absolutely rediculous, there is no proof that this is the exact training that the current athletes have had to go through, they just take a picture of a child in pain exercising, and we're supposed to think "oh well it's china" they're really bad with children and with no human rights, their gold medals are tainted whereas our british medals are well deserved as we have to observe all these laws and bla de bla...

The british media should just put a cork in it, you are not good enough! Simples!

You are so right...and all for the benefit of a harmonious China with lots of friends, family and sweetpotato pie.

This is a wonderful thread. Let's take one photo, with no real explanation of when or where or why it was taken, with no history of what happened before or after the photo, and let's use that total lack of understanding and knowledge to slag of 1.2 billion people. Yay. We're so smart.

Must admit, I didn't notice the nationality. I just thought that this isn't how one should treat a child in the name of a game.

I imagine it happens the world over.

Some one ellses pain Great

Unfortunately we are all victims to media sensationalism...

This is exactly what the DM wants people to do, people naturally take sides, and they want polarising articles that generate traffic...

Out of contest picture, used for in vogue topic by sensationalist headline grabbing disgusting journalists! They should be ashamed of themselves!