Opinion | Controversies on ping-pong court: Conflicts between fan economy and sports spirit

By Darius

The Olympic table tennis women's singles final ended a few days ago. A "China Derby" started between young player Sun Yingsha and defending champion Chen Meng. In the end, Chen defeated Sun, and China won both the gold and silver medals in the event.

This was supposed to be good for all Chinese fans, but something wrong happened during and after the game.

According to a Chinese journalist, at the final, a reporter from AFP asked him an embarrassing question: "Why did the Chinese audience give Chen much fewer cheers than Sun?" Indeed, if we look back on the game, we can see that every time Sun scored, there was a huge applause; but for Chen's scoring, it seemed like she was in a library where no one even said a word.

The topic has also been trending on social media and sports platforms in mainland China. Many netizens said they could see Sun's fans disrespecting Chen at the scene and that this kind of behavior made these 'neutral' netizens start to support Chen. Someone even teased, "Chen is like a silencer, muffling the whole stadium in one game."

In fact, I understand that people would like to see that a generation excels the older one and that young people can shine on the big stage. But if this is the only reason there is less respect for the veterans and less love for the sport, that would be putting the cart before the horse. 

In an information age, athletes are closer to the lives of ordinary people than ever before. As people come into contact with them more frequently, the number of fans of those athletes will also increase. This phenomenon, however, has resulted in a situation where many older athletes' fans are completely outnumbered by newer stars' fans, leading to an unprecedented series of accidents that finally culminated in the Olympic Games.

The popularity of a sport is certainly a good thing, but lowering the threshold also means that the purity of the sport itself is undermined. Many of these 'fans' might have never watched a game completely and tend to focus on the content of their favorite athletes but not on the rest of the games and events. In the absence of sportsmanship and the pursuit of victory, those people often become extreme, even targeting other athletes from their own country who compete with their favorites.

Is that still sportsmanship? Is that still the spirit of the Olympic Games?

When two athletes both represent their country, they not only have the personal goal of "higher, faster, stronger", but also have the common goal of "winning for the nation". They are each other's honorable opponents and common comrades. Still, some of their fans seem to have completely forgotten this and exaggerated the rivalry, ultimately making the spirit of sports dusty, which is more than pathetic.

Besides, the support from those fervent fans might be toxic; as far as I know, many Chinese athletes start training at a young age, are immersed in the environment of sports, and do not have a deep perception of the outside world. They are simple and easily influenced by other people, and they seem to mind being called "not good enough or unsportsmanlike" more than they mind being denigrated for their personal qualities.

Therefore, excessive denigration and praise may affect the athletes' competitive status. If those supporters do care about the athletes, they should learn when to open their mouths and when to zip them, bringing sports back to their original form, not just cheap daily entertainment.

A basketball star once said, "Ball don't lie." I would also like to say that sports don't lie, and those who truly love sports will turn their noses up at vanity lies and choose the truth, even if it may be less than perfect.

May I ask, are you guys okay with imperfection?

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