Beijing police said Wednesday (Aug. 7) they had arrested a woman for posting online comments slandering athletes and coaches after the women's singles table tennis final at the Paris Olympics.
Beijing's Daxing District Public Security Bureau said in a statement on the X-like Weibo platform Tuesday (Aug. 6) that the 29-year-old woman, surnamed He, “maliciously falsified information and openly slandered others.”
The statement did not say which athletes and coaches were targeted and the case remains under investigation.
The arrests were made after the women's singles table tennis final in Paris, Sunday (4/8).
The match pitted two Chinese players, Chen Meng against Sun Yingsha. While the crowd cheered for Sun, Chen was booed by the crowd and became the target of online abuse.
Referring to what happened during and after the table tennis match, China's Ministry of Public Security expressed its determination to “severely crack down on 'fan circles' related to chaotic sports.” The ministry's statement, reported by Chinese state media, urged fans to “watch matches in a civilized manner, discuss objectively, and respect coaches, athletes and judges.”
Weibo said Sunday it had deleted more than 12,000 posts and banned more than 300 accounts after the incident.
Weibo urged users to “stay focused on the ground and make rational comments.”
According to Freeweibo, a website that monitors deleted comments on Weibo, among the posts that were removed were ones that attacked Chen. “The whole country is hoping for Sun Yingsha to win the women's singles gold, where is your sense of justice?,” said one Chen fan.
Several posts showing a Sun fan in Paris appearing to give Chen the middle finger were also deleted.
The trending hashtag “Don't let fan culture erode Chinese table tennis” had garnered more than 200 million views on Weibo as of Sunday.
Many other users criticized the fans in the stadium and expressed their support for Chen. “Anyone who is not informed would think Yingsha played against a foreign opponent,” one user commented.
Weibo said before the Olympics it had deleted 8,200 comments and blocked more than 500 accounts for “abusive and slanderous” comments about athletes, and urged users to support everyone competing for China in Paris.
China has strong table tennis athletes and was undefeated in the Paris Olympics. (em/jm)
