Love easily turns to hate for Chinese sports stars

By Liu Zhun (Global Times)    09:24, August 15, 2015

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Illustration: Peter C. Espina/GT

After he touched the wall in 47.84 seconds in the men's 100-meter freestyle at the FINA World Championships, Ning Zetao has become the most popular sports star in China overnight. He has an adorable face, a sunshine smile, and a perfect build. Girls infatuated with unrealistic romantic notions adore him as "the nation's boyfriend." Sports fans worship their new idol, praising him for "making history," just like retired athlete Liu Xiang, who won the first Olympic gold medal in a men's track and field event for China.

Ning and Liu, to be honest, form an ominous analogy. When Liu won the gold medal in the men's 110-meter hurdle in 2004 Olympic Games, he was lauded as a hero, even a god, who was "the pride of the yellow race." But four years later when he was highly expected to win another gold medal at his home country, he pulled out of the competition due to an ankle injury.

A dramatic turn soon emerged in public opinion. He was not a hero any more, being ridiculed by a lot of people with nicknames such as "Liu Run Run" or "Liu Quit Quit." Public opinion turned sharply against him. "He should have shown real sportsmanship - at least walk ahead and break the tape if you cannot run," said a lot of netizens and even some sports commentators.

Another four years later in London, Liu fell over the first hurdle and injured his Achilles tendon. This time, he got up and stumbled through the finishing line and kissed the last hurdle as his goodbye. This gesture, which was full of sportsmanship, didn't get him sympathy or encouragement either. He was suspected of "faking" the injury. "He is afraid of losing the race, and all of it is only acting!" said quite a few angry netizens on social media.

Liu was not the first victim of such love-turned-hatred abuse. When Li Ning, a legendary Chinese gymnast in the 1980s, lost at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, he smiled to the audience to acknowledge end of his career. However, what he got was razors and ropes from his Chinese compatriots, who implied that he should have committed suicide because he lost the game.

I am not saying Ning will meet the same fate as his predecessors in sports. But he should keep in mind that the adrenaline-driven Chinese public is good at creating gods and goddesses, but they are also more adept at abandoning them. We have reasons to speculate that when Ning is no longer at his peak period and loses some gold medals he was expected to win, bitter remarks might emerge very soon. If so, his looks and charm may not matter anymore.

A bit comfort comes from the public's calm acceptance of Sun Yang's no-show at the men's 1500-meter freestyle final. Sun, another popular swimmer, had some minor heart problems before the final. But, afraid of the appearance of the familiar extreme and critical rhetoric, media outlets immediately called on the public to take a calm attitude. This time, negative voices were rare, but one important reason was probably that Sun had already won two gold medals and one silver medal in this World Championships before the 1500-meter final.

Chinese sports stars are facing a group of crazy people, who are a minority but can make waves. They are sensitive and irritable. They have a viciously unstrained imagination to come up with all sorts of conspiracies, and are immersed in the ecstasy of finding out the "truth."

One piece of advice for these new Chinese idols: Try to stay a low profile even after you have achieved fame, and brace for these hostile attacks at any moment. As for these crazy people, they should think twice, or even thrice, about making any judgment in the future.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily onTwitter andFacebook)(Editor:Zhang Qian,Bianji)

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