Gymnastics and China

I'm watching the women's team finals while working on our vacation pictures.

The announcers said that the 20 yr old gymnast from China (and all gymnasts) are taken from their parents at about age 3 to train their whole lives. At one point, she called her parents to come home and they said that, no, she has to stay with the progam.

That breaks my heart. I look at my Katie and she has a great aptitude for gymnastics and is in the 4-6 year old class. She'll be 3 in a few months. I can't even imagine having her gone and getting to see her once or twice a year.

*sigh* Cultures are so different and I'm grateful that I get to spend time with my kids, in my culture.