Chinese authorities appear to have censored a document showing plans to spend more than US$6.6 million this year on training for two US-born winter sport athletes, including double Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu.
Freestyle skier Gu and figure skater Beverly Zhu were both born and raised in the US, but switched allegiance to China. At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Gu’s medal success — she won two golds and a silver — made her a national hero, while Zhu’s blunder-filled performance led to online criticism.
A document published last week by the Beijing City Government designated 48.14 million yuan (US$6.64 million) of funds for training ahead of next year’s Milan Cortina Games for the two athletes, according to reports from a monitoring organization and local media.
Photo: AFP
The document was still available on the Beijing government Web site as of yesterday morning, but mention of the two athletes was gone.
A report covering the document by independent Chinese financial magazine Caixin was also taken down, and the news has been removed from other sites, too, news and censorship monitor China Digital Times (CDT) said.
The US$6.64 million was designated as “assurance expenditure for the competition training of talented athletes,” a screenshot of the government document published by CDT showed.
“Gu and Zhu will continue to represent Beijing at their respective competitions,” the document said.
In the past few years, China has naturalized foreign-born athletes to boost national squads, notably in soccer and ice hockey.
Although common in other countries, the recruitment of foreign players is unusual in China where there is minimal inward migration and citizens are banned from holding dual nationality.
Gu’s citizenship status has been the subject of intense scrutiny. She has repeatedly dodged questions about whether she has relinquished her US passport for a Chinese one.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS