China Shocked by Champion Gymnast Turned Beggar
By wchung | 11 May, 2025

China has rallied to rescue the disgraced life of a former champion gymnast who was discovered begging for a living on the streets of Beijing.

Zhang Shangwu, 27, had won two gold medals at the 2001 Beijing Universidade, an international athletic contest for college students. He was virtually certain to make the national team for the 2004 Athens Olympics, but a ruptured achilles tendon ended his gymnastics career. He was forced to support himself as a waiter and a care worker, and eventually descended to theft when the injury hampered his work performance. Zhang was caught and jailed for five years before being released in April.

Zhang’s situation brought to the national spotlight the plight of top athletes taken from their homes as young children to receive specialized athletic training. Once their careers end, they lack the education and skills needed to adjust to ordinary life and end up struggling to support themselves.

Zhang is one of the lucky ones. After his plight was publicized in the mass media he was inundated job offers, including from one of China’s richest men.

“In China, there are many athletes who have experienced the same thing as me,” Zhang told AFP. ”So I’m one of the lucky ones as the media and society uncovered my plight.”