well, its not our definition of an athlete that's for sure, but i still think they have passion. It may come from a national pride only and not of a sporting self achievement sort, but passion is passion, these people set out to achieve their goal just like our athletes, their motives are just different. Its like, the goal has a different clause in it: instead of something like, i like swimming, i got good at swimming, i developed a passion for competing in the water, im going to the Olympics!! im going to do my best to represent my country. Its more like: i was born with a possible path in mind, i was trained at a young age, i am good at swimming, my country needs me to compete at the Olympics, it is my duty to represent my country.
But thats just a look at it from the individuals side. In America we have the odp, Olympic development program. basically a large scouting and then cream of the drop trainning deal. In china, they've gotten a little more serious. Trying to produce likely strong babies serious..... all the kids in china that attend a schooling that has a P.E. sort of thing are measured and if you score high on things, then opd like people come and you are moved to start training to represent your country. Its still an honor, its just a different mentality behind it. It does seem in my eyes, more for one's country than one's self, something we associated to a soldiers sacrifice and honor; but you can still see the passion in those athletes when they win gold for their country just like when ours(USA) take home gold for the united states. that guy from china slapped the water and roared after winning gold, how many times have you seen phelps slap the water and roar??? passion is passion, i believe the Olympic games have been bringing it out of the human since it started and in doing so, showed us that its not the sport that matters, its the pride and human spirit to compete that is at stake at these games.