On May 30, former director of the Chinese Communist Party’s State Sports General Administration and member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Gou Zhongwen, was investigated for alleged serious violations of discipline and law.
Public records show that Gou Zhongwen, born in June 1957 in Zhenyuan County, Gansu Province, had no prior experience in sports-related roles before serving as director of the State Sports General Administration. Prior to this, he worked in the former Chinese Ministry of Information Industry, holding positions such as Director of the China Electronic Information Industry Development Research Institute and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Information Industry, where he was responsible for military affairs and enterprise informatization.
In 2008, Gou Zhongwen was appointed as Deputy Mayor of Beijing and served in that position for 5 years. In 2013, he became a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee, Secretary of the Municipal Committee’s Working Commission for Educators, Secretary of the Zhongguancun Management Committee, as well as concurrently serving as the President of the Beijing Municipal Committee Party School and the Beijing Administrative College. In April 2016, Gou Zhongwen was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee, and six months later, he was transferred to the State Sports General Administration. He was removed from the position of director of the State Sports General Administration on July 29, 2022, and subsequently became Vice Director of the National Committee of the CPPCC for Ethnic and Religious Affairs.
In 2017, Gou Zhongwen, who was then director of the State Sports General Administration, was implicated in the controversial dismissal of Liu Guoliang, the head coach of the Chinese National Table Tennis Team, as well as the boycott by team members and coaches, leading to online criticism referring to him as the “dog director” and accusing him of “not understanding sports and making misguided decisions.”
There were rumors of discord between Gou Zhongwen, then director of the State Sports General Administration, and his deputy Cai Zhenhua. The reshuffling of coaching staff in the General Administration, including the removal of Liu Guoliang, was seen as targeting Cai Zhenhua, who at the time was the Chairman of the Chinese Football Association and the only central candidate member of the State Sports General Administration. Cai Zhenhua had previously served as head coach of the Chinese Men’s Table Tennis Team, with Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui as his right-hand men.
Analysts at the time speculated that during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the State Sports General Administration was allotted only one central committee member slot, leading to a competition between Gou Zhongwen and Cai Zhenhua. Gou Zhongwen was eventually elected as a central committee member at the Congress held in October 2017.
In recent years, corruption within the Chinese Communist Party’s sports sector has been continuously exposed. Starting from the investigation of Li Tie, former head coach of the Chinese national football team in 2022, numerous officials in the sports sector have been removed from their positions.
These include Hu Guangyu, Deputy Director of the Political and Legal Department of the State Sports General Administration; Chen Xuyuan, former Chairman of the Chinese Football Association; Yu Hongchen, Chairman of the Chinese Athletics Association (who also served as Vice Chairman of the Chinese Football Association); Dong Zheng, former General Manager of the Chinese Super League Company; Ma Chengquan, former Chairman of the Chinese Super League Company; Li Yuyi, former Vice Chairman of the Chinese Football Association; Du Zhaocai, former Deputy Director of the State Sports General Administration; Ni Huizhong, former director of the Winter Sports Management Center of the State Sports General Administration, and Liu Aijie, former Chairmen of the Chinese Rowing Association and the Chinese Canoeing Association, among others.
Following the investigation and removal of Du Zhaocai, former Deputy Director of the State Sports General Administration, on April 1, 2023, several mainland media outlets hinted that more significant figures would be targeted next, with speculation focusing on Cai Zhenhua and Gou Zhongwen as potential targets.