Destitute champion highlights athletes' plight

BEIJING, Mar 29 (Reuters) A former Chinese weightlifting champion has been found nearly destitute, working in a bath house and living in one small room, throwing the spotlight on China's treatment of its sporting heroes.

Zou Chunlan, 36, won several gold medals in China's National Games between 1987 and 1993 but following retirement was unable to find steady work due in part to poor health she blames on drugs taken during her athletic career.

''I said to my coach... I'm now always growing a beard, during training I was always made to take a 'power supplement', now I've become like this, you won't get me work, what am I to do?'' she was quoted by the Beijing News newspaper as saying.

''I was once very proud of these medals but now they only give me painful memories.'' Feng Jianzhong, Vice Minister of China's General Sports Administration, told a news conference on WednesdayA Zou's case would be investigated.

''We hope the relevant department will look at Zou's case sympathetically,'' he said, adding that the government, from President Hu Jintao down, had long recognised the need to take care of retired athletes.

''We will not forget athletes who have won honours for the nation,'' Feng said, citing several government projects designed to help them, including allowing them automatic entry into university.

Zou was discovered working in a bath-house in the northern city of Changchun last week and said she was taking medicine to control hormonal imbalances that had led to her body developing male characteristics, including rough skin and facial hair.

In 2000, the sporting unit in charge of Zou's welfare paid her a one-off 80,000 yuan (10,000 dollar) ''injury disability'' but her medical treatment regime, including hormonal, blood pressure and heart medicine, quickly absorbed it.

China was widely accused of sports doping after seven of its swimmers tested positive for steroids at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.

But the country has been on a clean-up campaign in recent years, dropping 27 athletes from its Olympic squad before the 2000 Sydney Games because of suspicious blood tests.

REUTERS DH BST1835