The four-year-old boy took a breath, ducked underwater and planted a kiss on the huge whale beside him. A trainer then lifted Huang Yan onto the back of the beluga whale, which is about 30 times his size, and the little boy sat astride the animal’s back as it glided smoothly just under the surface of the water.
“Today was okay,” Huang Yan said nonchalantly after swimming with Xiao Qiang the whale. The boy’s feat is the latest example in China of a bizarre athletic accomplishment involving a child. With the Beijing Olympics less than 10 months away, pint-sized athletes are grabbing the spotlight with stunts that some criticise as unsafe or unhealthy.