Chinese girl, 8, runs into controversy

BEIJING — In a country eagerly preparing to host next summer’s Olympic Games, little Zhang Huimin seemed destined to become an early champion for the Chinese public.

The slight 8-year-old, 44 pounds and just over 4 feet tall, jogged into Beijing under a media spotlight Sunday after running nearly the length of China. Zhang covered 2,212 miles in 55 days without a whimper, her father bragged. That, he pointed out, was more than an Olympic marathon every day.

The girl, whose spindly legs and knobby knees gave no hint of such stamina, appeared to embody the determination of many Chinese to see their country win big at the Beijing Games. To realize that ambition, thousands of Chinese youths have been training for years in rigorous government programs that turn out world-class divers, gymnasts and sprinters.

But national pride notwithstanding, Zhang’s feat and the relentless training regimen that made it possible had by Tuesday generated an unexpected burst of criticism from sports professionals and ordinary Chinese, who accused the girl’s father of taking things too far. Even for a nation thirsting for Olympic glory and recognition, winning cannot be everything, critics said.

“It is an extremely hard running process, even for an adult,” Liu Hong, director of the China School Sports Federation, told the official China Daily newspaper. “The running will certainly harm her.”

Liu Min, a newspaper commentator, wrote that people along the route had urged the father, Zhang Jianmin, to stop the run. At one point, a newspaper reported, Zhang turned off his cell phone to avoid the criticism as he rode behind his daughter on a motorized bicycle.

Addressed directly by reporters Monday, the girl said running makes her happy. Prodded, she named three prominent Chinese athletes as her models.

“I want to be a champion, too,” she said.