By Bi Ge

On August 10, Guo Wenjun won gold in the Women's 10 meters air pistol competition, setting a new Olympic record in the process.

But life was tough for Guo on her road to the Olympic championship. She had to overcome many setbacks, and often took dead-end jobs to make ends meet. She was virtually unknown before winning the gold medal; although she is now one of the queens of the Olympics, I prefer to think of her as an ordinary person who has feelings like the rest of us, and has experienced life's ups and downs, joys and sorrows.

Du Li, the defending champion, who was tipped to win, but only managed fifth place, managed a smile when the result was announced, but burst into tears soon afterwards. The smile showed her Olympic spirit, but the tears told us more about Du Li as a person.

An athlete's life is all about competition. To come out as winners, they need to disguise their true feelings, stay strong in the face of failure, and fight to win even when suffering from pain and injury.

But we should never forget they are people, not machines. They are proud when they win, downcast when they lose, often tough but sometimes fragile. Like all of us, they long for tenderness and respect, and need to communicate with others – even if it's just for a chat. When they fail, what they need most is sincere and practical help to solve their life and work problems.

The future can hold even more difficulties for champions. One former weightlifting champion ended up working in a bathhouse. A too-narrow focus on results means no-one is taking care of athletes' long term interests; their need to build a rounded life and plan for a post-athletics career. The fundamental problem is that we don't recognize athletes for what they are; ordinary, vulnerable people like everyone else.

We should care more about athletes' thoughts and feelings. People are only too eager to find out whatever they can about stars and champions. But what about the hundreds of also-rans who don't figure in the medal rankings, but without whom there would be no competitions. The country, and the world, needs to establish a system to look after athletes' emotional needs and make sure they can achieve a basic minimum standard of living when they retire from competition.

That might just be the most precious contribution we can make to realize the dream of a humanistic Olympics.

(China.org.cn, translated by Hou Xiaoying, August 12, 2008)