It was a political gaffe for Chinese short track speedskater Zhou Yang (周洋) — failing to thank her country and its government after her gold medal finish at the Vancouver Olympics.
But the 18-year-old is winning widespread support for her honesty and naivety, after being criticized by a top sports official for mentioning her parents in a post-win interview but failing to express gratitude for the Chinese sports system.
“How can somebody love their country if they don’t even love their parents?” China Youth Daily reporter Ma Jing (馬競) wrote in an opinion piece published on Tuesday, echoing the many online comments supporting Zhou in a case that is currently one of the hottest topics on Chinese Internet sites.
Zhou won gold in the 1,500m race and the 3,000m relay in her Olympic debut. After her 1,500m win on Feb. 20, a breathless Zhou told China Central Television: “It’s my dream. After winning the gold I might change a lot, become more confident and help my parents have a better life.”
She thanked her coach and teammates, but never mentioned the state-run sports system in which she had trained as an athlete for much of her life.
“It’s right to respect and thank your parents, but you also have to have the country in your heart. The country must come first. Don’t just talk about your parents,” said Yu Zaiqing (于再清), deputy director of the General Administration of Sport, in widely reported comments earlier this week.
Yu, who is also an International Olympic Committee vice president, added that the sports system must step up “moral education” for athletes.
He’s been skewered in comments on countless Web sites, where many Chinese who are normally hesitant to voice opinions speak freely because of the anonymity found online. His entry on Baidu Baike, a site similar to Wikipedia, was temporarily changed to say “Yu Zaiqing, male ... no mother and no father, raised by the Communist Party.”
Zhou’s family has defended her behavior, saying she is a young woman unfamiliar with the political demands facing Chinese athletes.
“Of course she’s naive! If she’s not naive why would she say something like that?” said Zhou’s aunt, surnamed Wang.
“Zhou Yang is very introverted, her life is eating, sleeping and training,” Wang said. “Of course her parents have sacrificed a lot too.”
Yu’s remarks underscore the ties binding sports to politics in China, where youngsters picked for their athletic abilities and specific physical traits undergo years of grueling training, with the singular goal of “winning glory for the country.”
But Zhou appeared to be more concerned about her parents’ welfare than her country, a move that has struck a chord among Chinese.
“For a girl who has a humble wish to let her parents live a comfortable life, she was heroic in her struggle to win these two gold medals for China, but then encountered such criticism,” sports columnist Sa Fu (薩福) of Chinese Internet portal 163.com wrote. “This is the real humiliation for the country.”
On Tuesday, officials tried to deflect criticism of Yu, who made his comments on Sunday during a sports committee meeting of the National People’s Congress. A fellow committee member said the group was discussing athletes in general and not Zhou specifically.
And Zhou appeared to have learned her lesson. Several Web sites on Tuesday carried comments attributed to her, in which she gave thanks to all the right people.
“I thank the country for providing us with excellent conditions, for giving us the excellent conditions for our Olympic campaign,” she was quoted as saying. “And I thank everyone who supported us, I thank our coaches, I thank the staff and I thank my mom and dad.”
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