One boy practices gymnastics while others look on in Shichahai as part of a gruelling training program.

                                                          Students improve their table tennis competition skills at the school. Photos: Yin Yeping/GT

Tens of thousands of kilometers away from London, a bunch of kids are quietly doing sports training at Beijing Shichahai Sports School. They hope to follow in the footsteps of those athletes who are currently placing China at the top of the London 2012 Olympic Games medal table.

One such athlete is an 11-year-old Beijing boy, Yu Hongbo. While most kids of his age are still living with their parents, Yu has been boarding and receiving ping-pong training here for about five years.

His excitement is evident when he reflects on his first enrolling at the school.

"I love playing ping-pong and I was so excited when I heard that I got into this school," he recalled.

Even though Yu has to train for five hours every day without a weekend, he does not complain.

"To be a world champion is my dream," he noted.

There are over 800 future athletes like Yu at the school, which is located in downtown Beijing.

Since its establishment in 1958, the school has been designated as the main training center for the top athletes of China, with the aim to train children to become world winners.

By the year 2011, many people who had trained at the school had gone on to compete successfully at an international level, with a total of seven Olympic gold medal winners.

These include Zhang Yining, the winner of the world ping-pong games at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, and He Kexin, the winner of the uneven bars part of gymnastics at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Given this prestigious background, just to be one of the 800 students here is already a fulfillment of a dream for some.

What is it like though to train at a school that places that much pressure on its students?

Metro Beijing decided to investigate.

Highly competitive 

There are several ways to enter the school. Some children are recommended by their instructors, which is the ideal scenario. They enter straight into the school and commence lessons.

Those on the waiting list have to pass an examination, held once a year, and if they do well they will then be accepted.

There is a lot of pressure to pass this exam first time round. Otherwise children could be deemed too old.

Chang Hong, a ping-pong instructor, expanded on this point.

"Those who fail to pass the exam might have little opportunity to retake it a year later because of the age limit. Age somewhat determines the performance of the athletes and therefore there is a regulation on age at our school," he said.

Chang noted that in order to enter the school, parents of students would even fake their children's age on their ID cards.

Winners and losers

It is a tough road ahead for those who enter the school, with many encountering pressures that they did not anticipate.

For those who look like they have a very promising future, it can be exciting. However, not everyone can be a winner.

Zheng Yutong, 13, certainly feels a sense of disappointment. After five years of training as a gymnast, he has all but given up on Olympic dreams upon failing to pass several tests.

He still loves gymnastics, but the training program can be very tough.

"Tedious and repetitive moves were done all day every day," he said. "It felt like a monotonous training program with no end in sight."

Zheng was removed from the special training section of the school for those children with potential and now just partakes in ordinary training.

The pressure is not just on the students, but also on the teachers.

Zhao Gengbo, a gymnastics trainer at the school, told Metro Beijing that they need to always be on their game.

"We need good results since our efforts are directly reflected in how well they perform. If they receive a good grade, we will be rewarded by the school as well," he noted.

"We hope the kids can become champions, despite the fact that this chance is probably just 1 percent or less," he said, adding that parents also have a lot of pressure on them.

Good investment

Even though the ultimate goal might be an Olympic gold medal, an education at Shichahai will still help those less talented athletes in the future.

Liu Yanbin, the deputy head of Shichahai Sports School, told Metro Beijing that many of the children go onto top universities in the world as a result of having the school's name on their application form.

"Our students normally have much better chances of entering world renowned schools like Stanford in the future," he said. "So it's kind of an investment for them in the future."

Liu said that those who have been to Shichahai Sports School have been successful in plenty of industries, such as banking, business, law and acting. For example, Jet Li, the kung fu actor, studied martial arts here in the early 1970s.

"We are introducing more educational elements too," he explained.

As for Yu and his ping-pong, the boy is now both formally enrolled at the school and part of a junior ping-pong team in Beijing. Yu might or might not become a future world champion, but he is already a force to be reckoned with.