Each Time Chinese Olympians Have Been “Disrespected” At The “2024 Paris Olympics”
As the 2024 Paris Olympics have proceeded, several countries have already gotten ahead in the race for the most medals. As of writing, the United States leads in the total number of medals, but China leads with the most gold medals.
Despite this, several competitors on China’s Olympic team have been disrespected by other individuals.
1. Wang Chuqin’s Paddle
Table Tennis player Wang Chunqin was coming off a gold medal win in the doubles competition when it was discovered that his prized paddle, needed for his upcoming matches, had been stepped on by photographers.
Many accused a photographer of breaking it intentionally to throw him off his game, which is, unfortunately, what happened.
This Man broke Wang Chuqin’s ROCKET deliberately。#Paris2024 #WangChuqin #The Olympic Sprits pic.twitter.com/WGkjAZYvjj
— ピピダン（皮蛋） (@PiggyRomi) July 31, 2024
2. Zheng Qinwen vs. Emma Navarro
Following her defeat during a match during the third round of the womens’ singles, Team USA’s Emma Navarro had less than polite things to say about Team China’s Zheng Qinwen. Navarro stated that she didn’t “respect her as an opponent.”
I just told her I didn’t respect her as a competitor. I think she goes about things in a pretty cut-throat way. It makes for a locker room that doesn’t have a lot of camaraderie, so it’s tough to face an opponent like that, who I really don’t respect.
— Emma Navarro
Zheng later revealed that Narvarro had spoken with her at the net, questioning her over how she had fans at all.
She told me she doesn’t know how I have a lot of fans. It looks like she’s not happy with my behavior towards her. If she’s not happy about my behavior, she can come and tell me. I would like to correct it to become a better player and a better person.
— Zheng Qinwen
3. Pan Zhenle’s Opponents
Following his record-breaking win during the 100 meter freestyle, China’s Pan Zhenle revealed that some of his opponents, Australia’s Kyle Chalmers, who won the silver medal, and USA’s Jack Alexey, had displayed disrespectful behavior before the match.
On the first day, during the 4×100m relay, I greeted Chalmers, but he completely ignored me, and even Alexey from the American team was dismissive. During training, when our coach was on the side, they would splash water directly on him with their flips, which felt quite disrespectful.
Today, we finally defeated all of them and broke the world record in such a challenging pool. It was an excellent performance and a great start for the Chinese team.
— Pan Zhanle
4. Doping Allegations
Following Pan Zhenle’s (and other Team China competitors’) wins, allegations of the team doping, or using performance enhancers, became widespread. Brett Hawke, an elite swimming coach and former competitive swimmer, directly called out Pan’s win as “unbelievable.”
Pan directly addressed these allegations, as well as female swimmer Zhang Yufei, who seemingly called out the hypocritical nature of the accusations.
Why are Chinese athletes questioned when they swim fast, but no one dares to question [Michael] Phelps or [Katie] Ledecky previously?
— Zhang Yufei
5. “Rude” Photographer
While being interviewed after his win, a photographer ran into Pan Zhenle and hurried off without saying a word. Many have seen the action as continued proof of some sort of prejudice against Chinese and other Asian competitors.
She didn't even apologize and left right away after hitting him. pic.twitter.com/i62J2N3WNy
— Alex From Xinjiang (@xinjiangalex) August 1, 2024
Hopefully, as the Olympics continue, all competitors can be shown the respect they deserve.
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