The anger Games: Chinese veteran Yu Yang screeches towards retirement after defeat in bronze medal match

Chinese athletes are known for being a disciplined bunch, almost to the point of being robotic. And that’s why it was a surprise to many when Yu Yang yelled at her coaches and angrily threw her towel to the floor when she and partner Tang Yuanting were playing for a bronze medal in the badminton women’s doubles against South Korea on Thursday.

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Yu Yang (left) and Tang Yuanting of China compete in the women’s doubles bronze medal match against South Korea. Photo: EPA

Published: 4:30am, 19 Aug 2016Updated: 5:55am, 19 Aug 2016

Chinese athletes are known for being a disciplined bunch, almost to the point of being robotic.

And that’s why it was a surprise to many when Yu Yang yelled at her coaches and angrily threw her towel to the floor when she and partner Tang Yuanting were playing for a bronze medal in the badminton women’s doubles against South Korea on Thursday.

“I threw the towel on the floor because I am an irritable person,” Yu said after losing the match.

China’s Yu Yang and Tang Yuanting play against South Korea’s Shin Seung-chan and Jung Kyung-eun. Photo: AP

“I actually felt like it was a relief now. It has finally ended. Although I did not play well today, it was such a relief.”

It was an important match for the 30-year-old – winner of women’s doubles gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as numerous world championships – who is retiring after Rio.

Her outpouring of emotion has highlighted the pressure Chinese Olympians in Rio, and in particular the badminton players, have faced to live up to the expectation their fans had in them in a sport which China has traditionally dominated.