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The Danger of Glorifying Child Olympians
By Linda Flanagan Produced by Vishakha Darbha Should we feel awed, or disturbed, by the 11-year-old skateboarder from China who is competing in the Olympics this year? In this audio essay, Linda Flanagan, the author of “Take Back the Game: How Money …
By Linda Flanagan
Produced by Vishakha Darbha
Should we feel awed, or disturbed, by the 11-year-old skateboarder from China who is competing in the Olympics this year? In this audio essay, Linda Flanagan, the author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports — and Why It Matters,” warns against worshiping child athletes, and making youth sports hyper-competitive.
(A full transcript of this audio essay will be available within 24 hours of publication in the audio player above.)
Credit…Illustration by The New York Times; photograph by Zhe Ji/Getty
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This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Vishakha Darbha. It was edited by Kaari Pitkin and Alison Bruzek. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Original music by Pat McCusker, Isaac Jones and Sonia Herrero. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.
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