PARIS: China's two-time Olympic gymnastics champion Li Xiaoshuang said the country's coaches were to blame after its men's team lost out on gold on Monday.
"Our team of coaches have issues. Let's not put all responsibilities on athletes. If they failed, the coaches did something wrong. We need to tell the truth after we fail," 50-year-old Li said in an online live broadcast that went viral on Chinese social media.
"Our athletes are too old. Sports needs young people. We really need to change the way we train and select athletes," added Li, who won gold on the floor at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and in the all-around at Atlanta four years later.
China's five gymnasts in the team event in Paris had an average age of 26.2.
Mistakes by 28-year-old Xiao Ruoteng and Su Weide, 24, on the high bar in the final rotation of Monday's all-around event cost China the gold after they had been ahead of Japan by three points after the first five apparatus.
First Xiao landed on his knees from the bar, then Su twice fell to the floor, resulting in China's lowest score of the day and handing a surprise victory to Japan.
"After watching the competition, I felt so much pain. It was really painful. Good soldiers need a good general. China has a great gymnastics team but we lack leadership and that's a problem," Li said.
"Su got the job at the last minute and barely had any training. We don't have anyone that is 18, 19 or 20 years old. How are we going to make it to the next Olympics?" said Li, who was 18 when he won his first Olympic gold.
Li also criticised the way China's women gymnasts were trained, saying they were burned out too young.
"We should change our training methods. Don't always say our bodies are not as strong as the Americans... give the girls a bit of time to grow. We burn them out too soon," he said.
Li said China had not produced any good gymnasts on the vault since Cheng Fei, who won gold in the women's team event and bronze on vault at the Beijing Olympics 16 years ago.
"We are good on the beam and not bad on the uneven bars but how come our vault – I find it unacceptable! The routines haven't changed since '92," said Li. - Reuters