Preview of Real Sports for June 24

Here’s HBO’s press release on the segments for Real Sports that airs this Tuesday at 10 p.m.

REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL

LOOKS INSIDE THE CHINESE SPORTS SCHOOL SYSTEM,

EXAMINES THE FIGHT TO KEEP SOFTBALL AN OLYMPIC SPORT,

AND PROFILES ONE MAN’S PATH TO CYCLING REDEMPTION

WHEN IT RETURNS JUNE 24, EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO

REAL SPORTS WITH BRYANT GUMBEL presents more enterprising features and reporting when its 135th edition debuts TUESDAY, JUNE 24 (10:00 p.m. ET/PT & 9:00 p.m. CT) on HBO.

Segments include:

*The System. At the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, host nation China is poised to win more gold medals than any other country. For some this may come as a surprise, but for anyone who has grown up in the Chinese sports school system, becoming an Olympic champion is the anticipated result of a life spent in training. Groomed from an extremely young age, thousands of Chinese children are sent to sports schools funded and regulated by the government, where they are strictly trained under immense pressure with the hopes that they will go on to athletic glory. With less than two months to go before the Olympic Games commence, REAL SPORTS host Bryant Gumbel heads to China to provide an inside look into the Chinese sports school system and explores how just a quarter century after winning its first Olympic gold, China has become a global titan in the world of sports. Interviews include Terry Rhodes, who runs a sports marketing firm in Shanghai; sports school students Yen Ling and An Chi; retired national weightlifting champion Liu Chengju.

*Last Licks. When the U.S. Women’s Softball team entered the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, they went from unknown athletes to “golden girls” overnight in softball’s first-ever appearance as an Olympic sport. Engaging new stars like Lisa Fernandez and Jennie Finch emerged. Now, after only 12 years, the International Olympic Committee has chosen to remove softball from the Olympic Games after 2008, making it the first sport to be eliminated in more than 70 years. While many believe this decision reflects the game’s lack of international appeal, others wonder if it was aimed more directly at the U.S. for reasons unrelated to sports. Correspondent Andrea Kremer investigates this unfortunate situation and visits with members of the U.S. Women’s Softball team as they prepare for what could likely be their final Olympic competition. Interviews include softball federation president Don Porter; IOC member Dick Pound; and players Jessica Mendoza, Lisa Fernandez and Jennie Finch.

*Clean Slate. While sitting in a French jail cell in 2004, British cyclist David Millar wondered how his life had arrived at this point. Considered one of the top riders in the world, Millar was living his dream until French police searched his home and found used syringes of the performance-enhancing hormone EPO. In an instant, his life was in ruins. After a brief stay in jail, he subsequently admitted to doping, gave up his world championship medal and was suspended from cycling for two years. Today, Millar is a new man whose search for personal and cycling redemption has led him to a new team — Slipstream Racing — that’s single-handedly instituted one of the toughest anti-doping programs in sports. On the eve of the Tour de France, correspondent Jon Frankel reports in this REAL SPORTS/Sports Illustrated collaboration. Interviews include Millar; Dr. Paul Strauss; and Slipstream’s Jonathan Vaughters.