Winners and losers in patriot games
It wasn't surprising that China's Olympic stars faced political heat during their visit to city
Visiting mainland Olympic gold medallists are usually hailed as heroes, admired as role models and greeted warmly, even by the always critical press.
They got a big, warm welcome last week, but this time they had to contend with a press that was more prickly than usual.
When they arrived they were challenged on political issues rather than sports. The questions included whether the visit was to promote patriotism or was a "soft sell" for the controversial national education programme.
The athletes avoided touching on national education directly but did say things like it would be good to tell the younger generation about the persistence and hard work behind the medals.
Visiting mainland medallists from the 2004 Athens' Olympics and 2008 Beijing Games didn't face such hardball questions. Testing the political stance of elite athletes was not on the agenda.
The change of media focus could be a sign of a shift in public sentiment or reflect a change in the media's interest in this kind of fanfare, since people are becoming more worried about the growing mainland influence in Hong Kong.