Many, but not all, area residents in the Chinese community are proud the Olympic Games in Beijing showcase the success of individual athletes, and of the overall event.

“Compared to 20 years ago it is a different story,” said Michael Zhou, 48, who left China in 1986 and has lived in Chattanooga for the last 10 years. “It was much more for the ‘glory of the motherland’ in the past. That we recognize the individuals’ contributions is a good trend.”

The Chinese, as of Tuesday afternoon, had won 76 medals, second only to the United States’ 79, but the Chinese count of 43 gold medals was greater than any other nation in these summer games.

Chattooga County, Ga., resident Weiran Li feels many Chinese are seeing the spectacle through rose-colored glasses and urged scrutiny of how the government and its sports federations treat their elite athletes.

“I don’t care whether other Chinese agree with me or not,” Ms. Li said. “The reason I don’t want to watch it (Beijing Olympics) is because it makes me sad and angry. Even if all the people don’t care that those poor Chinese are under oppression, I care.”

Ms. Li cited several cases of athletes who have fallen far after days of glory competing for the national teams.

n Lang Ping, former captain of China’s women’s volleyball team who was badly injured in training and games, who now suffers physical debilitation due to her years of competition.

n Zhao Yonghua, China’s former woman’s skiing gold medal winner, at 31 is blind due to diabetes and has sold her medals to pay for medicine.

n Ai Dongmei, 27, a former marathon runner hobbled from years of overtraining.

“There are many more (of) China’s sportsmen and sportswomen, known or unknown, who are under the similar situations,” Ms. Li wrote in an e-mail. “Sports are essentially entertainment and should bring smiles to people’s face. If sports bring human suffering, it needs to be stopped! In China, the reality of Olympic game is ‘Winners are Kings, Losers are Beggers’. This kind of ideology is inhuman and against the spirit of sports.”

not just china

Ms. Li’s claims are considered by most in the Chinese community as an overly harsh use of a few examples to tar an entire national sports program.

“There might be one or two over a period of time,” said Huan Lin, 19, while watching an Olympic basketball game Wednesday morning. “They are not forced to compete, and to portray the entire sports program in that way is unfair.”

The Southern Adventist University sophomore said he has enjoyed watching the competition — particularly “the U.S. swimming team and the Chinese badminton, gymnastics and table tennis teams” — and thinks the fate of former athletes is a universal concern.

“It happens everywhere when athletes get old or injured,” Mr. Lin said.

China’s great hope for a gold medal in a showcase running event faltered Monday on the home track, underscoring the tremendous pressure on the nation’s athletes in the Beijing games.

Liu Xiang, a record-setting gold medalist at the 2004 Olympics, hobbled off the track Monday after a false start during a 110-meter hurdles preliminary heat.

While explaining the nature of Mr. Xiang’s injury, a tendon strain, coach Feng Shuyong, in a Cox News Service report, admitted that the 25-year-old runner and one of China’s most famous athletes “has endured great pressure from all of us.”

proving to the world

Chen Qinghus, 50, a shop owner who traveled to Beijing from a neighboring province to see Mr. Xiang race, was quoted in a wire service story as saying the runner had “let China down.

“He should have run even if he lost,” said Ms. Qinghus, who spent half of her monthly salary of $120 to buy a ticket to the race.

By Monday evening, an online poll reported 64,000 votes that Mr. Xiang should have raced regardless of injury, while 16,000 supported his withdrawal from the event.

“By leaving the race, Liu surrendered,” one comment on the Chinese msn.com Web site read. “Even if it killed him, he should have finished.”

Thelma Chan, with the Chinese School of the Chattanooga Chinese Association, said she has traveled to China numerous times and is aware of claims that Chinese athletes are overtrained and overused.

“They are proving to the rest of the world that they are their equal, showing that they have caught up to the rest of the world,” she said, concerning China’s use of the Olympics to showcase a nation as well as sports. “They have put on a good show.”

American-born Mrs. Chan, whose husband was born in China, said the Chinese live in a very competitive world, one where talent is scouted at an early age — and not just for athletes.

“It remains a communist world where the government controls everything,” she said. “Sometimes in a country like that you have no choice. They will pick the best at an early age, train and support them. But many of the parents will never see their children perform, the rewards are for the country, not the individual.”

room for improvement

The cultural differences between Chinese and Americans should be viewed as a given and not as something that demands change, according to Ling Jun Wang, president of the Chattanooga Chinese Association, which has about 100 members.

Saying he has no details regarding how athletes are selected or trained in China or elsewhere, Mr. Wang said rumors regarding athletes should neither be taken simply at face value nor should they be summarily dismissed.

“There are human rights issues in China and great room for improvement, but that must be handled locally by the Chinese themselves,” Mr. Wang said. “China is learning from what happened in Russia — it changed overnight and took years to recover — and the Chinese people will tolerate the status quo.”

Misunderstandings between the United States and China, a carryover from the Cold War, may ease due to the attention that accompanies the Olympics, he said.

see the real china

The games have provided great opportunities for people the world over to “take a close look at the real China and the Chinese people” and also provides outlets for the Chinese to see the world beyond China’s borders, Mr. Wang said.

“Though it still operates under the name of communism, there has been a complete change — a dynastic change — since the days of Mao Tse-tung, though it is still a one-party government,” he said. “The whole nation has tried really hard to make the games a success, to make a good show and let the world see what kind of people we are. This is a showcase for a new China and for the Chinese.”

Life is changing for China’s regular citizens, as well as its elite athletes, according to Mr. Zhou.

“The way I look at this it that over the past 20 years there has been a shift from communism to capitalism in China, while the West is shifting from pure capitalism to socialism,” he said. “Somewhere there is a middle ground.”

About the games that will end this weekend, Mr. Zhou said he has watched every night and felt pride for both Chinese and Americans.

About the anger directed at Liu Xiang after he withdrew from competition, Mr. Zhou said it was wrong and a reminder of past times.

“It happens. When you are injured, you are injured,” he said. “It is a good that we recognize the individual, and if he comes back next year, he comes back. This (the Olympics) has been one big show, a big coming-out party for China.”

Source of pride

Jiaxi Hou, 20, and Jian Zheng, 23, students at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn., said seeing the Olympics has made them proud and excited about their country and its progress.

“My parents were of a generation when there was not enough food,” Mr. Zheng said. “We are a young generation, but it (the Olympics) is exciting for all the Chinese people.”

Mr. Hou, who hails from Beijing, said he has been especially proud of his hometown — that what is shown on television and on the Internet is the Beijing he knows.

“This week I’ve thought about how fast we’ve developed,” he said. “I am proud of my country because it can finally host the Games.”

While these games have shown the Olympic spirit and pride of the Chinese people in their country, Ms. Li feels something is missing from these Games.

“It makes me sad to see ‘play for paycheck,’” she wrote. “I wish they don’t have to play for pay, but could play for fun.”