The gist is that she was ordered to lose in one World Table Tennis Championships, but refused and proceeded to be the champion.
Later she wasn't selected for the next Olympic, which she felt was the punishment for her disobedience. She later immigrated to Japan and played for their national team and gave China some trouble for a while.
The funny thing is, they do that in table tennis (actually also badminton in some other cases other than the one in the article) not even just to secure the gold medal: since China is/was so dominant in this sport, they sometimes do it to ensure certain player can get his/her "grand slam" [2] (to win all the major tournaments in their career).
Chinese table tennis is full of such cases. This is their national sport, this is were they dominate.
Many Chinese players fall out with their brutal system. Either they barge and do nothing, like Liu Shiwen in the last decade, who was the very best player, but had some terrible losses to non-chinese players. Thus she was not allowed to play Olympics as World No #1. The most upsetting thing is that she lost to Ex-Chinese players, who left the system and played for Korea or Singapore. Some even for European countries, but only one ex-Top 10 player.
He Zhili played for Japan, Harimoto Tomukazu's parents also left the Chinese system at very young age and played for Japan. Last Olympics were extremely stressful for China because of this Ex-Chinese player who won against the very best, effectively unbeatable Chinese superstars, with new techniques. Then the Chinese looked very vulnerable because several European players also took that up and beat the GOAT Ma Long in a series of losses. Some 2nd rank Bejing politician took his chances and fired the coaches, the 3 best players defended their coaches and wanted to protect their superior system from some amateur destroying everything for his political chances. So the whole team was recalled from the ongoing World Championships, and didn't play for the next years. (Ma Long also had a knee injury). A new young Chinese protege didn't turn out to be winner against Harimoto, so after 3 years the old trainer at least in the men's team was allowed to come back, the old players won again, and China won almost all gold medals. They just lost one, even if they developed a secret win strategy against their biggest opponent, a young Japanese, and surprised them in the finals, but Liu Shiwen's partner fell off, and they lost Mixed Doubles. So Liu Shiwen is now forever dirty, not winning any Olympics gold. But she stayed in the system, and still is best paid player worldwide. She will probably retire this year.
However, no Ex-Chinese player ever won a gold medal against them. This would be their worst upset, it might even trigger a downfall of the political system.
Funnily enough, at least in this particular report, it is her coach who told the story. Really shows how this behavior was normalized enough for it not to be considered too shameful to admit.
The reason Ye and her husband are persona non grata is unrelated to the Olympic incident, but because her husband is involved in the "New Federal State of China" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Federal_State_of_China). Supposedly this is what the "fierce criticism" the article is referring to.
Iranian athletes have been dealing with this nightmare: if in an international competition they face a competitor from Israel, they will be told that they have to avoid competing.
This is part of Iran's Islamic government's symbolic gesture to show that they do not recognize a country by that name, and so their representatives do not compete against them.
This has caused a huge amount of damage on these athletes' professional lives. Imagine an Olympic competition, you might be in the right shape to compete in the Olympic only once, and you miss that not by your chance.
No officials in Iran take the responsibility of this decision, no one knows what institute forces athletes to abandon their competition, but this continues.
Many of top athletes migrate to other countries (usually just stay in the country they are for the competition as refugees, and do not come back with the team, then they move to another country) for a chance to compete free from this restriction.
That's considered part of the team strategy in F1 to maximize the chances of getting both drivers and constructors championships. Team orders of this kind are issued at almost every race.
Controversy in 2002, now a normal accepted part of the sport. To the point of Verstappen openly saying to his team on public radio “Cmon guys now we’re really losing silly amount of time” when team orders didn’t happen fast enough. He had to wait 2 laps.
Those saying that this is normal since Olympics is about country and medal counts, the main issue is the absurdly disproportionate repercussions that were inflicted on the athlete (and her husband too) for speaking about the strategy - that, ironically, is being described as "normal". If it is normal, why they had to suffer the consequences for telling it like it is?
Olympic has always been about country and its medal counts. If it’s about best player to win, then they need to change the qualification rules for the sports.
What the Olympics is about has always been subject to debate. The tension between its modernist ideals and realpolitik was present at the start, with individualist and postmodern criticisms joining the chat later. It’s hard to imagine some starting a similar institution today, but it seems at least somewhat effective at its goal of world peace, if only by giving nations an easy, institutionalized way to gain prestige without going to war.
I suspect that the way we watch the Olympics pretty much implies it is a country-team event. I'm pretty sure most people have their eyes on the medal count rankings, not on who exactly wins a medal (unless you are a close friend or relative of a particular athlete). So I always thought all competent national team coaches would do this kind of strategization.
It's a complicated beast, and has many priorities to juggle in order to ensure its own perpetuation.
A big one is that the Olympics need to keep appealing to viewers around the world. They need to stay relevant with the audience, so that they can keep getting both corporate and government money, and also wield political influence.
Stoking nationalist fervours around the world is definitely part of that appeal. But not the only one.
Maybe it shouldn’t be about the country and its medal counts then. Imagine spending the best years of your life training, only to be told to throw the match because some bureaucrats thought it was best for their country?
This whole patriotism thing in sports seems silly. Two highly trained and motivated people are playing, let the better person win the match. Why does it have to be so hard?
Maybe it is time to stop playing national anthem and play the winner’s favorite song instead. Wave a white flag instead of the national flag.
Here we have a sad story how Goodhart's Law overcame the Olympic spirit. The count of gold medals became more important than fair play, honestly finding out who is the best, etc.
"If you cannot win cleanly, just win" (quoting from memory).
I would have assumed this is normal strategizing for countries to do in sports, though perhaps without the same level of coercion? Obviously you want your strongest athlete to compete and you want them to get an easy win instead of tiring them out.
Teams certainly do such strategizing in sports like cycling.
I am a little surprised at how some people in the comments seem to have never heard about this sort of thing before. It is...not that uncommon, even at high levels of sport.
For example, in the "Disgrace of Gijón" [1] incident in the 1982 FIFA (Soccer) World Cup, Austria were accused of throwing a match to West Germany so both teams could advance; leading FIFA to change the schedules to prevent this from happening again (or at least make it more difficult).
The Austria/Germany farce in Spain was much different though. Two teams effectively agreed on a result to ensure they both went through at the expense of Algeria. Then not only did the world at large (including German and Austrian fans) turn against the teams, but as you say FIFA recognised it and acted against it.
In this case a single person was ordered by a powerful government to self-sacrifice with the knowledge that if she didn't her career was effectively over - you know China wouldn't think twice about pulling her funding, or choose not to select her again.
They're both very disappointing cases, but one had a very real consequence for the people and the sport involved - the other seemingly continues unabated.
In China, the goal is not to win gold medal for you, but for the country. The other girl has the higher win rate against the opponent at the final, so Ye was ordered to bunt.
I don't get it though, if Ye Zhaoying won over the other person with a higher win rate, that means she's better and can make it into the final on her own merits, no? If Gong Zhichao couldn't win a match against Ye Zhaoying, then they might not even win against Camilla Martin.
This is the kind of things that bother me in current sport. Not that it is a business with backstabbing, just that we paint it as clean and magnificent.
An elite athlete also does not have anything to do with the average Joe out Jane, so let's stop pretending about health and normality.
I played volleyball for my uni, it was a nightmare and I gave up because of the stress and lack of fun. I then played in "business league" and our team was dreadful. We were always messy but this was pure fun and joy. The other teams knew we were bad and they we would loose, so they played cool, had fun with combinations that they would not risk with other teams etc.
We usually ended with 4 or 5 sets because everyone wanted the match to last. And then beer afterwards (I arranged for special funding because we were always the ones to buy the first round...). We had the only mixed team (and thanks god, because the girls were systematically saving the team's ass)
"Olympic spirit" seemed to have died a long time ago, or at least have been engulfed in the spirit of "let's make money!". The IOC is (imo) not an honorable organization, remember them defending China's other actions like the disappearing of the tennis player who had a seemingly-not-100%-consensual sex with the vice premier?
That Chinese athlete joined the Olympics as member of the Chinese Badminton Team, with the focus on "team". If the team's coaches decided that her opponent in the semis had better chances to beat the Danish lady (the only other non-Chinese athlete left in the semis) then what happened here is indeed right for the Chinese team as a whole. As it happens, the Danish lady was defeated in the final by the Chinese athlete chosen by the Chinese coaches to play against her, so it seems that the coach's action was the correct one for the Chinese Badminton Team.
> In this context, the previous national footballer also mentions that their public statements have caused both friends and close family to turn their backs on the couple.
> “My parents have said, ‘Hao is no longer part of this family’.”
> Ye Zhaoying interrupts and says that both her daughter and her father back home in China are furious with her.
> “My father always says that I should live my life and stop talking about the Chinese government. They’re firmly against what we’re doing.”
This is just so sad, her family probably didn't even have much choice in the matter. Either disown the deviant or face punishment for her speech.
> her family probably didn't even have much choice in the matter. Either disown the deviant or face punishment for her speech.
That is an optimistic take. Chinese previous generations I've known in my circle are also stepped in the genuine belief of filial piety and national loyalty.
The problem with easy solutions is that they aren't solutions, and they aren't easy.
It is massively unfair to a top athlete to not being allowed to compete because he's the second best in India, or China, or the United States, when a much lower-ranked athlete from, say, Burkina Faso is allowed to run merely because of their nationality.
[+] [-] thrdbndndn|3 years ago|reply
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Zhili
The gist is that she was ordered to lose in one World Table Tennis Championships, but refused and proceeded to be the champion.
Later she wasn't selected for the next Olympic, which she felt was the punishment for her disobedience. She later immigrated to Japan and played for their national team and gave China some trouble for a while.
There is also this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton_at_the_2012_Summer_O...
The funny thing is, they do that in table tennis (actually also badminton in some other cases other than the one in the article) not even just to secure the gold medal: since China is/was so dominant in this sport, they sometimes do it to ensure certain player can get his/her "grand slam" [2] (to win all the major tournaments in their career).
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_tennis#Notable_players
[+] [-] rurban|3 years ago|reply
Many Chinese players fall out with their brutal system. Either they barge and do nothing, like Liu Shiwen in the last decade, who was the very best player, but had some terrible losses to non-chinese players. Thus she was not allowed to play Olympics as World No #1. The most upsetting thing is that she lost to Ex-Chinese players, who left the system and played for Korea or Singapore. Some even for European countries, but only one ex-Top 10 player.
He Zhili played for Japan, Harimoto Tomukazu's parents also left the Chinese system at very young age and played for Japan. Last Olympics were extremely stressful for China because of this Ex-Chinese player who won against the very best, effectively unbeatable Chinese superstars, with new techniques. Then the Chinese looked very vulnerable because several European players also took that up and beat the GOAT Ma Long in a series of losses. Some 2nd rank Bejing politician took his chances and fired the coaches, the 3 best players defended their coaches and wanted to protect their superior system from some amateur destroying everything for his political chances. So the whole team was recalled from the ongoing World Championships, and didn't play for the next years. (Ma Long also had a knee injury). A new young Chinese protege didn't turn out to be winner against Harimoto, so after 3 years the old trainer at least in the men's team was allowed to come back, the old players won again, and China won almost all gold medals. They just lost one, even if they developed a secret win strategy against their biggest opponent, a young Japanese, and surprised them in the finals, but Liu Shiwen's partner fell off, and they lost Mixed Doubles. So Liu Shiwen is now forever dirty, not winning any Olympics gold. But she stayed in the system, and still is best paid player worldwide. She will probably retire this year.
However, no Ex-Chinese player ever won a gold medal against them. This would be their worst upset, it might even trigger a downfall of the political system.
[+] [-] jxramos|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xiaq|3 years ago|reply
Funnily enough, at least in this particular report, it is her coach who told the story. Really shows how this behavior was normalized enough for it not to be considered too shameful to admit.
The reason Ye and her husband are persona non grata is unrelated to the Olympic incident, but because her husband is involved in the "New Federal State of China" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Federal_State_of_China). Supposedly this is what the "fierce criticism" the article is referring to.
[+] [-] aljgz|3 years ago|reply
This is part of Iran's Islamic government's symbolic gesture to show that they do not recognize a country by that name, and so their representatives do not compete against them.
This has caused a huge amount of damage on these athletes' professional lives. Imagine an Olympic competition, you might be in the right shape to compete in the Olympic only once, and you miss that not by your chance.
No officials in Iran take the responsibility of this decision, no one knows what institute forces athletes to abandon their competition, but this continues.
Many of top athletes migrate to other countries (usually just stay in the country they are for the competition as refugees, and do not come back with the team, then they move to another country) for a chance to compete free from this restriction.
[+] [-] ManWith2Plans|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mertd|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Swizec|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] noisy_boy|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dncornholio|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aynyc|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] labster|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] k_sze|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eru|3 years ago|reply
A big one is that the Olympics need to keep appealing to viewers around the world. They need to stay relevant with the audience, so that they can keep getting both corporate and government money, and also wield political influence.
Stoking nationalist fervours around the world is definitely part of that appeal. But not the only one.
[+] [-] akudha|3 years ago|reply
This whole patriotism thing in sports seems silly. Two highly trained and motivated people are playing, let the better person win the match. Why does it have to be so hard?
Maybe it is time to stop playing national anthem and play the winner’s favorite song instead. Wave a white flag instead of the national flag.
[+] [-] ericls|3 years ago|reply
I think players should be not allowed to disclose their nationalities in the Olympics
[+] [-] nine_k|3 years ago|reply
"If you cannot win cleanly, just win" (quoting from memory).
[+] [-] kayodelycaon|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tsol|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] UberFly|3 years ago|reply
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ancient-history-cheat...
[+] [-] ummonk|3 years ago|reply
Teams certainly do such strategizing in sports like cycling.
[+] [-] quadrifoliate|3 years ago|reply
For example, in the "Disgrace of Gijón" [1] incident in the 1982 FIFA (Soccer) World Cup, Austria were accused of throwing a match to West Germany so both teams could advance; leading FIFA to change the schedules to prevent this from happening again (or at least make it more difficult).
----------------------------------------
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace_of_Gij%C3%B3n
[+] [-] smcl|3 years ago|reply
In this case a single person was ordered by a powerful government to self-sacrifice with the knowledge that if she didn't her career was effectively over - you know China wouldn't think twice about pulling her funding, or choose not to select her again.
They're both very disappointing cases, but one had a very real consequence for the people and the sport involved - the other seemingly continues unabated.
[+] [-] derekzhouzhen|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] osigurdson|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] noobermin|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ausbah|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] BrandoElFollito|3 years ago|reply
An elite athlete also does not have anything to do with the average Joe out Jane, so let's stop pretending about health and normality.
I played volleyball for my uni, it was a nightmare and I gave up because of the stress and lack of fun. I then played in "business league" and our team was dreadful. We were always messy but this was pure fun and joy. The other teams knew we were bad and they we would loose, so they played cool, had fun with combinations that they would not risk with other teams etc.
We usually ended with 4 or 5 sets because everyone wanted the match to last. And then beer afterwards (I arranged for special funding because we were always the ones to buy the first round...). We had the only mixed team (and thanks god, because the girls were systematically saving the team's ass)
This is what I call real, fun, great sport.
[+] [-] StanislavPetrov|3 years ago|reply
Anyone who has watched Olympic boxing over the years knows that "the rules of the game, justice and the Olympic spirit" have always been non-existent.
[+] [-] netsharc|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] paganel|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dartharva|3 years ago|reply
> “My parents have said, ‘Hao is no longer part of this family’.”
> Ye Zhaoying interrupts and says that both her daughter and her father back home in China are furious with her.
> “My father always says that I should live my life and stop talking about the Chinese government. They’re firmly against what we’re doing.”
This is just so sad, her family probably didn't even have much choice in the matter. Either disown the deviant or face punishment for her speech.
[+] [-] hackernewds|3 years ago|reply
That is an optimistic take. Chinese previous generations I've known in my circle are also stepped in the genuine belief of filial piety and national loyalty.
[+] [-] dncornholio|3 years ago|reply
1. Roy Jones Jr. - Park Si-Heon 1988
2. Floyd Mayweather - Serafim Todorov 1996
3. Michael Conlan - Vladimir Nikitin 2016
4. Evander Holyfield - Kevin Barry 1984
5. Anthony Joshua - Erislandy Savón 2012
Boxing is probably the most rotten thing of the whole Olympics.
[+] [-] thrwyoilarticle|3 years ago|reply
Nice! Here you have to spend 6 weeks at a coding camp and join a company developing CRUD apps to make that kind of bonus.
[+] [-] registeredcorn|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aluksi|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sfg|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DocTomoe|3 years ago|reply
It is massively unfair to a top athlete to not being allowed to compete because he's the second best in India, or China, or the United States, when a much lower-ranked athlete from, say, Burkina Faso is allowed to run merely because of their nationality.