【新唐人2011年7月18日讯】中国的体育界，除了使用禁药备受关注外，体育运动员退役后出路窘困也常受到议论。上周，一名网友在微博上透露了前体操冠军选手张尚武沦落到街头卖艺 ，消息不胫而走。中共政权继承自共产苏联的体育制度，再次成为中国民众抨击的焦点。
7月14号，网名为“浪风”的网友在微博写道：“有多少人在王府井地铁口（东方新天地）看过这个体操前‘世界冠军’？每天我还没到公司他就到了，我八点回家他还在。腿跟腱断了，国家不管了”。微博上还贴了一张张尚武被保安赶走收拾东西的图片。
这条微博在网上热传，到15号晚被转发了35,709次，跟贴评论8,016条，引来众多媒体与网友的关注。
之后几天，许多大陆媒体采访了张尚武。张尚武表示，爷爷得了脑血栓，病情越来越严重，他很想赚钱给爷爷治病，可是没有一技之长，只好卖艺。
张尚武：“（我）很想尽尽孝，但是我又没有办法，我现在又没有能力，我现在只能靠我这点能力，我只能是卖艺挣一点钱，给我爷爷治病。”
张尚武5岁练体操，12岁进国家队。18岁获大运会吊环金牌，之后参加了在比利时根特举行的世界体操锦标赛。他22岁从省队退役。25岁因盗窃被判刑4年半，获减刑今年4月提早出狱。
张尚武退役的问题原因可能错综复杂，有报导说跟偷窃、不受纪律、为女友把人打伤等有关， 也有报导说跟他个人性格以至破裂家庭有关。但张尚武退役后找工作难是不争的事实。
根据张尚武的婶婶戎女士透露，张尚武找保安工作，1米51的身材不合格，家人曾经求熟人介绍工作，当时大家都会带着嘲笑的口气说“世界冠军还需要找工作？”
除了张尚武，有不少“冠军级”体育运动员也传出退役后处境凄凉，如1990年获得全国女子举重冠军的邹春兰。她因为没有出路而当搓澡工。张尚武也坦白的说，自己进了体操队后根本没有童年。
张尚武：“我们12岁进国家队，一直到我20岁退役，到我20岁受伤，回到地方，这段时间没有什么童年，我的童年跟我最亲切的就是冷梆梆的器械、双杠、单杠、鞍马、体操，就这个陪伴着我度过了童年，一直到我20岁。”
许多网友都在网上讨论，为张尚武抱不平。网友这样写道：
“以后还有多少父母愿意把自己的孩子送去练专业体育呢？唯一能够搞笑的是，一个世界“大学生”运动会的冠军，竟然坦言自己没上过学，真不知道这个比赛的参赛资格是怎么审核的？”
“中共政府就是这样，需要你的时候是你孙子，你没用了你连孙子都做不成！！！可悲啊！”
“我发誓，以后看到什么奥运会或者什么比赛，如果中国夺冠也没什么感觉了，这事荼毒了多少孩子？拿他们挣了面子就弃之如敝屣了……”
而一位自称也是中共体制下的运动员的网友表示：“作为一个同是运动员的我看到了这个 ，我感到很无力。不出名的运动员真的是弱势群体。”他说，大众不了解一个运动员受伤之后的情况，有人说可以“去建筑地打工啊”， 但是，他希望大众更深入的去“懂”他们的处境。
新唐人记者吴惟、王明宇综合报导。
Ex-Champion Reduced to Street Performer
In China’s sports circle, in addition to drug abuse, the lives of retired athletes are often discussed.
Last week, a netizen exposed on microblog that
former gymnastics champion Zhang Shangwu was reduced to be a street performer.
The message spread like wildfire.
The sport system, which is inherited from the former Soviet Union
by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), once again draws criticism.
On July 14th, a netizen named “Wind wave” wrote on microblog,
“How many people saw this former ‘gymnastics champion’ at the Wangfujing subway?
Everyday, he is there before I arrive at office, and when I go home at 8 p.m., he is still there.
After his Achilles tendon was broken, the state has abandoned him.”
A picture of Zhang being driven off by security guards is also posted online.
This microblog message was forwarded enthusiastically, for 35,709 times in one day, with 8,016 comments.
It caught the attention of the mass media and netizens.
Several days later, Zhang was interviewed by many Chinese media.
Zhang said that his grandfather was suffering from aggravating cerebral thrombosis.
He wanted to earn money to heal his grandfather, but he had no skills.
As a result, he had to perform on the street.
Zhang: I really want to show my filial piety, but I have no means.
I do not have much capability.
Now I can only rely on performing on the street to earn a little money to treat my grandfather”
Zhang started playing gymnastics when he was 5 and joined the national team at age 12.
He won a gold medal of hand ring at the age of 18.
Afterwards, he participated in the World Gymnastics Championships games in Ghent, elgium.
He retired from the provincial team when he was 22.
And he was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for theft when he was 25.
He was released from prison in April 2011, due to a shortened jail term.
The reason of Zhang’s retirement was complicated.
Some media reported that it was related to theft, discipline violation, bodily harm, etc.
Others said it was about his personality and his broken family.
It was hard for him to find a job after retirement.
According to Zhang’s aunt Ms. Rong, Zhang tried to become a security guard,
but his height of 1.51 meters made him unqualified for the job.
His family used to ask acquaintances to help him find a job,
but everyone scoffed, “a world champion needs to find a job?"
Besides Zhang, many retired champions live in dismal situations,
such as Zhou Chunlan, who was the national women’s weightlifting champion in 1990.
Now she has to work in a bath house to swab down customers.
Zhang confessed that there was no childhood in a gymnastics team.
Zhang: We joined the national team at the age of 12. I did not have a childhood.
I got hurt when I was 20. Afterwards, I left the national team and went back to join the local team.
For me, all those cold instruments were the closest friends to me: parallel bars, horizontal bar and pummeled horse.
Gymnastics accompanied me for my entire childhood, until I was 20.
Many netizens discussed this online and felt unfair for him. Someone wrote:
“After this, how many parents would like to send their children to train as professional athletes?
And the only funny thing is that a champion of “university student” games confessed that he had never been educated.
How could he get the qualification to participate in the games?”
“That is the CPP government. When it needs you, it enslaves you.
But when you are useless, you are worse than a slave! What a tragedy!”
“I swear, when I watch Olympics or other competitions,
I won’t feel anything special when China wins.
How many kids are ruined for this?
After using them to “gain face” for the CCP, they are treated like dirt.”
A netizen who claimed to be an athlete in the CPP system said, “As an athlete,
I feel powerless when I saw this. Unknown athletes are really vulnerable groups”.
He said that the public did not understand the situation after an athlete was injured.
Someone said “they can work in construction sites”.
But he really hoped that the public could “understand” their situation on a deeper level.
NTD reporters Wu Wei and Wang Mingyu
