When 16-year-old African-American gymnast Gabby Douglas stunned the world with her extraordinary all-around performance in the Northern Greenwich Arena last Thursday afternoon, I was using my long-distance lens to photograph every move.

I noticed a middle-aged Chinese person followed her when the London Olympics gold medalist joined the players rotating from one sport to another. My first guess was the man was her coach.

However, when another Chinese woman coach walked in front of my lens, my colleague next to me in the middle of the magnificent stadium started to search online using his iPhone.