Media slams obsession with gold medals
Mainland media turned on the nation's state-run sports system in the aftermath of the match-throwing scandal at the London Olympics that saw star badminton players Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli disqualified.
Many commentaries blamed a fixation on accumulating Olympic gold as the cause for the players' performance on Wednesday during the women's doubles competition.
Yu and her playing partner Wang were among four women's doubles teams ejected for trying to lose their final matches in the round-robin stage of the competition to secure more favourable opponents in the later knockout rounds.
Yu later announced she was quitting the sport, and head coach Li Yongbo made a public apology through Xinhua, saying the behaviour of his team reflected the shortcomings of the new rules, but emphasised that was no excuse.
In yesterday's Oriental Morning Post, prominent commentator Liu Hongbo said sports authorities were so anxious for gold they had no problem sacrificing deeper values. He drew a comparison with how the government pursued economic growth no matter the cost to public health or the environment.
In a commentary titled 'Medals mania and GDP worship', Liu said the only goal under the national sports system was for athletes to bring home gold.
'Athletes have been separated from their families and the real world. They are kept in the dark even if their family members are in critical condition or have died,' Liu said.
Liu was apparently referring to diver Wu Minxia, who came first in synchronised diving at the London Games. Her family decided to wait until after the competition to inform her that her mother had contracted breast cancer and two of her grandparents had died a year ago, according to a report in the Shanghai Daily.
Liu continued: 'Losing a match will be called 'humiliating'. Winning silver will be commonly described as 'failure to achieve gold'.'
He pointed to reports in mainland media of the government organising viewing parties in the hometowns of Olympic athletes. If they failed to win a medal, the audiences disbanded, leaving the athletes' parents alone.
The Today Morning Post ran a similar commentary on the pressures the athletes faced. 'Under China's current system, the number of gold medals is the gross domestic product of sports. Gold medals translate into honour, positions, cash, cars and houses.'
In the China Youth Daily, commentator Cao Jing took Yu and Wang to task for playing like amateurs.
'From the perspective of Yu, Wang and their coach, nothing is more important than winning gold.
'China's national badminton team is already used to not playing their best in less important matches or even withdrawing from matches. Winning gold becomes their excuse to do so.'
