Zhang Shangwu.

On July 11, Zhang Shangwu, the gymnastics ex-champion of the 2001 Universiade was spotted performing gymnastic tricks for money in the metro stations in Beijing.

It was not the first time for Zhang to be a street-performer. One year ago, when he appeared performing gymnastics in busy Wangfujing Metro Station, he made a great stir and drew public attention to the plight of the retired athletes struggling with poverty, injury and joblessness.

Zhang Shangwu, a former gymnast who won two gold medals for China at the 2001 Summer Universiade in Beijing was forced into early retirement due to a ruptured tendon in his heel in 2002. In 2007, he was jailed twice for theft. According to Zhang, his injury has kept him from doing manual labor, so the only way to make a living he could think was to perform gymnastics stunts.

This time, his living conditions have put the often-miserable conditions of veteran athletes under the spotlight again.

As the London Olympic Games approach, those up-and-coming elite athletes who accomplish both success and fame are bound to be rewarded amply. But what about those frustrated athletes? It is a well-known fact that those unknown, underappreciated sportsmen far outnumber the number of highly-publicized stars.

According to statistics, there are approximately 50,000 registered professional athletes in China. Each year, at least 3,000 athletes retire from their sports careers, among which, about 40 percent will become unemployed. The regular method of bridging the gap for these athletes is to implement so-called "one-time compensation".

"In China, there are many athletes who have experienced the same thing as me, so I'm one of the lucky ones because the media and society uncovered my story," Zhang said.

As Zhang said, he is not the exception. Former national champion weightlifter Zou Chunlan, who made a living as a bathroom attendant in her retirement, has also become a media sensation.

Many former athletes inevitably face substantial challenges when they leave the carefree "eden" of the national sports system and enter a society that is full of competition. Without adequate education, many of them lack vocational skills to provide them with sufficient income to live.

Since 2007, China has introduced a regulation to incorporate the athletes' rights into the social security system to ease the athletes' re-employment problem after their retirement from professional sports to a certain degree.

The problem of how to deal with veteran athletes exists extensively in almost every country, but every country has their own way to solve it.

In America, retired athletes who cannot find jobs are eligible for unemployment insurance to help ease them through the transitional period and make ends meet.

Japan, another sports power, is similarly confronted with this problem. Except from several big-ticket sports items like baseball, football and golf, professional athletes do not earn exorbitant salaries. Therefore, the majority of retired athletes have to go back to school to finish their education before being eligible to enter the workforce.

In recent years, China's State General Administration of Sports has put increasing emphasis on cultivating athletes' academic ability. Nonetheless, the sports school system is unlikely to be transformed into a normal education system that stresses balanced development both physically and academically in the short run. China's state sports agency must further address how to prevent more and more former athletes like Zhang Shangwu from slipping into a life of poverty and desperation.

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