Tag Archives: Olympic Games

False Start Farce Threatens to Overshadow Asian Games

Chinese track darling Wu Yanni’s reinstatement into the 100m hurdles final after a clear false start smacks of external pressure – and undermines China’s efforts to present an impressive show to the world.

Let me start with some important context. I have been very impressed by the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou. The organization, as expected, has been flawless. The thousands of volunteers have gone above and beyond to be friendly and helpful. The 80,000-seater Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium, designed in the shape of a lotus flower, looks fantastic both inside and out. I was in attendance there last night and the atmosphere from the capacity crowd was as good as I’ve experienced at a sporting event in China. It was the perfect evening for what should have been some great performances from Chinese athletes on China’s national day, October 1. And yet, here we are talking something completely different – and totally avoidable.

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Rudi Ying Hits Out at Teammates, System in Explosive Interview

Happy Easter – and I have a real treat for you today! If you’ve been reading this site for a year or more, there’s a good chance you saw the Frostbitten piece, which revealed for the first time quite how chaotic things were in the world of Chinese ice hockey. [It’s a good primer in terms of some of the background, but much has changed since then].

After I published the piece, then-captain of the Chinese squad Rudi Ying reached out to me to share some of his thoughts and concerns – his mother had seen the piece in one of the parent ice hockey groups she was in – and we’ve kept in regular touch since . I finally got the chance to sit down with him in person this week and the podcast below was, well, explosive. Rudi went on the record for the first time about his teammates, the divisions in the Chinese camp leading up the Olympics, his own failings as a player, his frustrations with the Chinese system and a whole lot more. I could write pages on this, but I’ll spare you – just listen to the podcast! Full blurb underneath the podcast player:

Last chance to get the Easter week discount for Sporting Superpower – click here!

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Eileen Gu Citizenship Dilemma Throws Up Familiar Questions

China’s Eileen Gu flew into Beijing this week ahead of the Olympics, after travelling from her home in the US. And that last fact – that she still lives in the US despite switching to compete for China in 2019 – made her the subject of a recent article in The Wall Street Journal. Haig and I debate the situation at length in an animated podcast. There are two main issues here:

  1. For someone who has reportedly renounced her US citizenship, Eileen Gu still spends an awful lot of time in the US – something that may be against US law. [UPDATE: Sources conflict on this, but I’m told it’s possible to renounce and then apply for a tourist visa or even an O or P visa, which would allow longer-term stays.] Conversely, if she does still have her US passport tucked away at home, then China has made a rather large exception to its strict nationality law, which forbids dual citizenship. It’s an issue that has faced several athletes recruited by China in recent years from ice hockey to soccer, and it’s a topic I explore at length in my new book Sporting Superpower. (What’s that? You haven’t downloaded a copy yet?! Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered – click here now!)
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Olympic Sailing Star Meets Peng Shuai in Shanghai

Happy New Year to all my readers and thanks for following, listening and reading throughout 2021. The 2022 Beijing Olympics begin exactly one month from today, and the Closed Loop Management System (aka the Olympic bubble) went into operation this morning.

This week on the China Sports Insider Podcast we spoke to Chinese Olympic sailing champion Xu Lijia, who won gold in the laser division at the 2012 Olympics in London, where she also carried the flag for China at the Closing Ceremony. She had some fascinating things to say about her career and about China’s state-run sports system in general. She was also pictured in Shanghai recently alongside Yao Ming, table tennis champ Wang Liqin, and people’s favorite Peng Shuai in what was clearly a staged photo shoot. I asked her about that and for her thoughts on Peng in what has become our most listened podcast so far! Full blurb below:

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Up close with Stephon Marbury, plus NHL’s Olympic scare stories

This week on the China Sports Insider Podcast we sit down with basketball star Stephon Marbury – arguably the most famous foreigner living in China, where he’s been for more than a decade. It’s a wide ranging chat about his current coaching duties in the CBA bubble, the upcoming Olympics, his career in China, plans for the future, and more, so please give it a listen.

But before the chat with Marbury, we focus on the latest Olympic ice hockey news. With COVID-19 again ripping through much of the western world, it’s increasingly likely that the NHL’s schedule will be disrupted to such an extent that the league may prevent its players from going to the Olympics, because it will need the scheduled three-week break to catch up all the postponed games. But if that doesn’t happen, the players should still travel with confidence, despite all the misinformation bouncing around North American media. We break down what’s true and what isn’t, and what NHL players can expect when they get to Beijing.

Continue reading Up close with Stephon Marbury, plus NHL’s Olympic scare stories

Olympic “Boycott”, Hockey Showdown & the CSL Returns To Action

Episode 11 of the China Sports Insider Podcast features:

  • The latest on the Olympic ice hockey drama – the Chinese men’s team is now confirmed to be in, so what does that mean come February?
  • The US announces a diplomatic boycott (read “boycott”) for the 2022 Games; we discuss what that means in practical terms.
  • And with the Chinese Super League returning this weekend after a four-month break, we speak to Tariq Panja from The New York Times and Nikki Wang, formerly an adviser to the CSL with Deloitte, on the overall state of Chinese football and how things got so bad.

Click through to hear the show (full blurb and timestamps below). Please leave feedback in the comments!

Continue reading Olympic “Boycott”, Hockey Showdown & the CSL Returns To Action

Podcast: Jon Howse Talks Hockey Development in China

Jon Howse may just be the best hockey player currently based in China, although his minor league career in North America was cut short by concussions. He’s been coaching here since 2015 and had a ton of stories for us on the podcast – including, most shockingly, how he witnessed a coach “dropkick” an eight-year-old kid in the stomach. Fortunately, abuse like that is on the way out, Howse says, but it does still happen.

We wrapped up all the week’s stories before diving into a lengthy chat with Jon. All the info is below.

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Introducing the China Sports Insider Podcast!

Apologies for the lack of posts in recent weeks: a combination of travel (including a LOT of quarantine), plus other work priorities, have kept me from the site. I’ve been working on two other sports projects in particular, the first of which I’m happy to announce below, with a second, much larger one coming later in the year!

I’ve teamed up with Haig Balian, host and producer of The Beijing Sessions podcast series, to put together the China Sports Insider Podcast, which we will release weekly. We had a soft launch a few weeks ago, but we’re now on the SupChina podcast network, so you can find all back issues of the show and subscribe here. It was also great to be on the Sinica stream for the first episode with host Kaiser Kuo and his tens of thousands of listeners.

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Confirmed: NHL Stars Set to Play at 2022 Beijing Olympics

With five months to go until the 2022 Winter Olympics, one big question that has loomed large over the Games has now been answered – NHL players will again be back at the Olympics having been forced to skip Pyeongchang in 2018. That means Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and many more will actually be in Beijing – and soon! Let’s take a look at what this means – for the players, for the Olympics and for hockey fans worldwide.

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Bursting The Bubble: What We Know About the 2022 Olympics

There are a lot of outstanding questions about exactly how the 2022 Beijing Olympics might look and, to be frank, there is still a lot that’s unknown – largely because the organizers haven’t made or announced their final decisions. But things are starting to take shape and – despite the uncertainty that COVID-19 clearly brings – there is a fair amount we can be confident about.

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