The women’s singles table tennis final at the Paris Olympics was contested between two Chinese players. When Chen Meng defeated Sun Yingsha, it not only sparked a lot of boos from Chinese fans, but even the coaching staff showed disapproval. This peculiar phenomenon has sparked discussions in the public about the “fan circle culture” and the dark secrets of the Chinese sports world.
On August 3, in the women’s singles table tennis final at the Paris Olympics, defending Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Chen Meng defeated the World Cup women’s singles champion Sun Yingsha by 4-2, once again claiming the Olympic gold in this event.
What should have been a moment for Chinese pride turned awkward at the venue. Chinese fans were seen vigorously cheering for Sun Yingsha while Chen Meng’s victory was met with a lack of joy from the coaching staff, with neutral expressions on their faces. There was even a Chinese fan who gestured disrespectfully towards Chen Meng. As Chen Meng stood on the award podium, Chinese fans continued to shout “Sun Yingsha.”
During the match, the bias of the CCTV commentators was apparent. Every time Sun Yingsha scored, the commentators were loud and excited, while their tone was flat when Chen Meng scored. There were moments when both CCTV commentators remained silent even as Chen Meng scored consecutively.
According to Phoenix Sports, the behavior of some spectators in the stands left foreign observers surprised. They especially couldn’t understand why in a match between two Chinese players, many fans were biased, cheering for one and ignoring the other.
Some comments suggested that both the Chinese authorities and fans seemed to be there to witness Sun Yingsha’s grand slam victory, and Chen Meng’s win seemed to disrupt their pre-planned celebrations.
After the game, there were social media posts revealing the identity of the woman who gestured disrespectfully to Chen Meng, claiming she was a PR manager at Yili. Yili staff responded to media inquiries on August 7, stating that the person making the inappropriate gesture was not an employee of Yili.
Meanwhile, some netizens disclosed on social media that ahead of Sun Yingsha’s participation in the Paris Olympics women’s singles final and Fan Zhendong’s participation in the men’s singles final, Yili had already displayed the content “Congratulations to Sun Yingsha on winning the women’s singles gold” and “Congratulations to Fan Zhendong on winning the men’s singles gold” on a large screen in Sanlitun, Beijing.
Yili released a statement stating that they tested the display effect in advance to ensure they could share the joy immediately after the games, leading to untimely exposure of the content.
Regarding the overwhelming behavior of Chinese fans, mainland media such as Xinjingbao and ThePaper blamed this phenomenon on the “fan circle” culture, where fans of athletes turn a sports event into a “fan chasing stars” event, endorsing the Chinese Sports General Administration and related departments.
However, Vice Professor Zhang Tianliang of Flying University of America pointed out in the program “Tianliang Moment” that it’s not about some so-called fan circle culture; it’s actually about capital operation. This includes Yili’s premature release of advertisements, implying that Yili already knew in advance that Sun Yingsha was predetermined to win, making Yili’s explanation futile.
Zhang Tianliang also mentioned that the coaching staff’s displeasure after Chen Meng’s victory was likely because they had instructed Chen Meng to let Sun Yingsha win, a request that Chen Meng refused. This is the dark secret of the Chinese sports world – the champion is decided based on the leadership’s intentions. The precedent of match-fixing exists; for example, He Zhihui joined the Japanese table tennis team because her coach instructed her to let the opponent win, and now Chen Meng’s victory is simply a repetition of the He Zhihui incident.