On August 19, a group of students were practicing running inside a sports stadium in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, when they were suddenly elbowed by an elderly man, sparking heated discussions and quickly becoming a trending topic on Weibo.
A video captured by a netizen showed a couple of elderly people walking on the inside lane of the track, while a group of students were conducting their regular running training on the track. The elderly man seemed to be worried that the students might collide with his wife, so he gestured for her to move aside and then proceeded to elbow the students who were running at a fast pace, twice. Fortunately, the students managed to dodge the blows in time and no injuries were reported.
After the video went viral, the elderly man’s actions stirred up a lot of controversy. Many netizens expressed their outrage, questioning why the elderly couple couldn’t just walk on the outer lane and why they had to treat the children in such a manner. Some commented, “So wicked”, “Why couldn’t the elderly walk on the outer lane for a stroll, why treat the kids like that?”, “Has the bad person turned old or has the elderly turned bad?”
By noon on August 19, the topic of “Elderly man deliberately elbowing students during training” became the number one trending topic on Weibo.
In response to this incident, Lawyer Shao Bin, founding partner and honorary director of Bohe Hanshang (Hangzhou) Law Firm in Shanghai, told Shangyou News that from the related video, it can be seen that the elderly man elbowed the students in their chest area with significant force, while the students were running towards him at a fast pace. This could have easily resulted in injuries such as broken ribs, posing a certain level of danger. “Fortunately, the students dodged in time, preventing any harm. However, regardless of whether the elderly man’s actions were directly intentional or indirectly, they are suspected of intentional harm.”
Lawyer Shao believes that the elderly man thought the students were obstructing his wife’s walk on the inner lane, and the students in the inner lane were just carrying out their normal training without taking evasive measures, leading to the incident. If the relevant management authority of the sports stadium could provide appropriate guidelines while opening up public resources to the public, such as setting up different exercise areas for people of different age groups or staggering opening times, and deploying staff for timely guidance, it could help prevent similar incidents from happening again.