Li Shuming (Procuratorial Daily): We respect world champions and their coaches for their hard work to win the country glory. However, if hard work and good performance can be used as an excuse for offering someone lifelong free medical treatment, many excellent workers in many sectors will equally be qualified for such treatment.

Excellent athletes and their coaches can get much more from commercial advertisements and activities than people in other sectors.

If relevant organizations really want to provide special medical treatment to athletes because they may get injured during extreme physical exercises, then more attention should be paid to those non-champions, who mostly have to face dull and insecure lives after they retire. Only a tiny fraction of the huge athlete population gets to the top of the pyramid, and under them are the ordinary and silent athletes, who work equally hard but due to various reasons, fail to achieve. Compared with the champions, who are in shortage of nothing, these non-champions should get more care. If free medical treatment goes to these athletes, the public will feel much easier about accepting this scheme.

China on the whole is lacking in medical resources, and in this case fairness in medical treatment is very important. Shanghai's supply of lifelong free medical treatment to local world champions might be creating new examples of medicare unfairness.

Wang Li (gb.cri.cn): The Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau's plan to offer lifelong medical care to local world champions after they retire is not a bad thing itself. The question is, whether it is this small number of athletes who should receive such treatment or the large majority of ordinary sportspersons as well.

Olympic champions will usually be given material awards at national and local government levels, apart from the regular awards they get from the Games. Moreover, taking part in commercial advertisement activities is another important channel for them to harvest big incomes. Also, such champions usually have easy access to administrative jobs in sports authorities. In conclusion, Olympic champions like Liu can easily live a decent life after they retire from sports. Lifelong free medical services are nothing but icing on the cake. The policy is controversial because most of the ordinary are still short of good social security. The latter, who under China's current sports system tend to face tough lives after retirement, are in stronger need of this welfare.

If this is totally a commercial activity, then it's all right for these champions to enjoy the extra material awards, but if it is the taxpayers who will pay these champions' medical bills for the rest of their lives, it's unfair.

Guandongke (www.rednet.cn): Gold medals and champions are undoubtedly the focus of attention. Huge material awards and supposed lifelong free medical services mean to encourage athletes to play hard to win, so that national and provincial sports authorities that pay for their training and almost everything related can also get awarded. However, while benefiting some athletes who are strong and lucky enough to win gold medals, this incentive mechanism does nothing to help the vast majority of ordinary athletes.

For the 23 Shanghai-born world champions and coaches, this is really a great gift from their local sports authority. However, most people, including ordinary athletes, are struggling with the country's limited medical resources.

Under China's sports training system, gold medalists are obliged to the organizations and taxpayers that support them. They do deserve awards, but should not get preferential treatment.

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