Table of Contents
What has happened?
- The pressure on Chinese athletes to perform has never been higher. Anything less than a gold is being seen as athletes being unpatriotic by furious nationalists online.
- China’s mixed doubles table tennis team made a tearful apology at the Tokyo Olympics last week – for winning a silver medal.
- “I feel like I’ve failed the team… I’m sorry everyone,” Liu Shiwen said, bowing in apology, tears welling in her eyes.
- Her partner, Xu Xin, added: “The whole country was looking forward to this final. I think the entire Chinese team cannot accept this result.“
- Their finals loss against Japan in a sport they usually dominate had left many online furious.
- On microblogging platform Weibo, some “keyboard warriors” attacked the pair, saying they had “failed the nation“.
- Others made unsubstantiated claims of referee bias towards Japan.
More than just sporting glory
- As nationalist fever continues to sweep the country, racking up the Olympic medal tally has become much more than just sporting glory.
- For the ultra-nationalist crowd, losing an Olympic medal is akin to being “unpatriotic”.
- “In that context, someone who fails at a competition against foreigners has let down or even betrayed the nation.”
Specially loss against Japan
- The table tennis match was an especially bitter pill to swallow because it had been a loss to Japan, with which China shares a tumultuous history.
- Japan’s occupation of Manchuria in northern China in 1931 before a wider war began six years later, killed millions of Chinese.
- It is still a sore point between the two nations.
- To Chinese nationalists, then, the match was not just an athletic event, Dr Schneider said.
- “It’s a stand-off between China and Japan.“
- Anti-Japanese sentiments on Weibo ran high throughout the match, as users called Mizutani and Ito all manners of names.
Not just Japan
- But it’s not just Japan – or table tennis.
- China’s Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen were targeted online when they lost their badminton doubles final to Taiwan.
- “Are you guys not awake? You didn’t put in any effort at all. What crap!” one Weibo user said.
- Tensions between China and Taiwan have soared in recent years.
- China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province, but many Taiwanese people disagree and want a separate nation.
Trolling for nike shoes
- Other targeted athletes included sharpshooter Yang Qian – despite her taking the Tokyo Games’ first gold medal.
- Her downfall? An old Weibo post where she had showed off her Nike shoe collection.
- People were not pleased, given how the brand is among those boycotted for its pledge to stop using Xinjiang cotton over forced labour concerns.
- Yang has since deleted the post.
Nationalism in China
- Nationalism in China has risen sharply in recent years as its global influence grows and any international criticisms are seen as attempts to target its development.
- The Olympics also came hot on the heels of the China Communist Party’s (CCP’s) 100th anniversary celebrations on 1 July, where President Xi Jinping made a defiant speech about how China would never be “bullied” by foreign powers.
- Experts say this is indicative of where the “danger” lies – when nationalism appears to have gone too far, even for the state.
- “The CCP tries to exploit online nationalism for its own purposes, but events like this show that once Chinese citizens get riled up, the state has great difficulty in controlling these feelings”.
- “Exploiting nationalist sentiment is like riding a tiger. Once on board, it is difficult to control and hard to get off.”
Q) What is the date of the first known Olympic Games?
- 776 BCE
- 428 BCE
- 250 BCE
- 12 BCE
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