Family Kept Grandparents’ Death Secret From Olympic Chinese Diver Until She Won The Gold
Wu Minxia (left) with Zi He
The Olympics are a time to celebrate athletes’ unparalleled skill and determination, but what happens behind the scenes, even before the athletes step foot on to Olympic soil?
It’s been revealed that Chinese diver Wu Minxia was kept in the dark about her grandparents’ death until she won the Olympic gold medal in the 3-meter springboard competition.
Her grandparents died more than a year ago.
The 26-year-old diver wasn’t privy to her mother’s battle with breast cancer either. Her mother’s diagnosis was only revealed to her recently. Minxia’s mother is now in remission.
Minxia’s father Wu Yuming believed the secrets were a necessary evil. “It was essential to tell this white lie,” he stated. “We accepted a long time ago that she doesn’t belong entirely to us. I don’t even dare to think about things like enjoying family happiness.”
Wu Minxia began training daily at the age of six, and by the time she was 16, she left home to train at a government aquatic sports institution, according to Yahoo!
Wu’s mother defended her decision to keep Minxia in the dark about her cancer, and says she only told her daughter of the secret because she was now in remission.
The Chinese government has come under scrutiny for their ‘win-at-all-cost’ mentality. According to Yahoo, government officials publicly congratulate gold metal winners but pay no heed to silver- or bronze-medal winners.
“It is too narrow to look at the Olympics purely through the prism of medals,” said an editorial in the China Business News publication. “It is also about sweat, tears, hardships… peace, freedom, and justice.”
China continues to dominate at the Olympics, so is it likely that their athletic program will alter in anyway?
