Media peek into China gymnast's life

BEIJING — For a few brief moments, it was as if a curtain had parted. We had one of China's young — perhaps too young — Olympic gymnasts alone.

Yang Yilin, through no fault of her own, has been one of the stories of these Games because of questions about whether she and two other gymnasts on the Chinese team are old enough to compete. China insists they are, but that hasn't erased the doubts that they may be under the minimum age of 16.

Now we had our chance to find out more, to get a close-up look at this 4-foot, 11-inch figure of controversy as she waited for her medal-winners' news conference to begin.

How fragile she looked, like a baby deer in the headlights of an oncoming SUV. Little pink hearts and the word "love" in blue letters decorated her hair clips. The glitter on her forehead twinkled under the lights. Chalk was encrusted where the skin met her slender fingernails. So thin, so uneasy, so out of place she seemed, in a downstairs room in Beijing's National Indoor Stadium. She'd just won an Olympic bronze medal in all-around gymnastics, one of the toughest sporting tests there is.

Two Americans had stood with her on the podium. Nastia Liukin got the gold, Shawn Johnson the silver, and they were late. As minutes passed, reporters crowded around Yang, scrutinizing, asking questions.

Unlike Johnson, who arrived later, obviously delighted with her medal, Yang displayed little outward emotion. She smiled obediently, all small teeth, when reporters asked her to pose for photos. Her little mouth pursed again when the lenses were turned away.

Perhaps Yang is shy by nature. But, really, she just seems to have been sheltered by the Chinese coaches who direct her life.

"For the drug test," coach Liu Qunlin said, passing Yang a bottle of water so she would be able to provide a sample for the dope-testers.

Then, a little hesitantly, Yang started to answer the questions. And the more she said, the more shocking it was. The answers were brief, spoken without heart. What emerged was a picture of a young girl who has been kept largely cut off from family and the outside world for more than a year, so she could be intensely trained to win medals for China at its own Olympics.

Were your parents here to see you compete, among the cheering crowds?

"I don't know."

When was the last time you went home?"

"Ummm ... before I joined the national team," Yang said, her small voice hard to hear.

When was that?

"More than a year ago."

Will you go on holiday after the Games?

"I don't know."

How many holidays do you get a year?

"I have not had a holiday since I joined the national team."