Gad Saad - Posts | Facebook - "Why is table tennis at the @Olympics so racist? Here is the list of men's medal winners (via Wikipedia): 14 Chinese, 4 Korean, 1 Japanese => 19/25 medal winners are Asian. Very few whites and not a single Black person (note the capitalization). Only explanation: SYSTEMIC RACISM."
Did a terrorist actually just win an Olympic gold medal? - "You may have heard of a little group called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was labeled a terrorist organization by the United States in 2019... Iranian marksman Javad Foroughi won Iran's first gold medal in the men's 10-meter air pistol event last Saturday. He has quite the shot, and it's a little terrifying to think about all the real-life practice he may have had… Iranian human rights athletic organization, United for Navid issued the following statement to the The Jerusalem Post: "We consider the awarding of an Olympic Gold Medal to Iran marksman Javad Foroughi not only a catastrophe for Iranian sports but also for the international community, and especially the reputation of the IOC. The 41-year old Foroughi is a current and longtime member of a terrorist organization." United for Navid also said the IRGC "has a history of violence and killing not only of Iranian people and protesters there, but also innocent people in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The IRGC is a designated foreign terrorist organization by the United States." United for Navid was first set up after the execution of the Iranian wrestler named Navid Afkari, 27, after he protested against the regime in 2018. Six-time Olympic medalist and Korean marksman, Jin Jong-oh also criticized the IOC, "How can a terrorist win first place (at the Olympics)? That's the most absurd and ridiculous thing""
South Korean male netizens demand Olympic archer be stripped of her gold medals over short hair - "Male netizens demanded An San apologise and have her Olympic titles stripped on the grounds that her hairstyle suggested she was a feminist. They also flooded the Korean Archery Association with calls demanding for her medals to be returned, and spammed her social media accounts with hate speech, slamming her past use of online slang which anti-feminist groups have deemed as anti-male"
What would happen if an athlete used "anti-female" slang?
Tokyo 2020: Chinese diplomats furious over ‘shameless’ photo of weightlifting gold medalist - "Chinese diplomats were left furious after a photo was published of gold-medal winning weightlifter Zhihui Hou. The embassy blasted Reuters as “ugly” and labelled the photo of Hou competing on her way to gold in the women’s 49-kg weightlifting as “shameless”. A statement from the Chinese embassy of Sri Lanka read: “Among all the photos of the game, Reuters has chosen this one, which only shows how ugly they are. “Don’t put politics and ideologies above sports, and call yourself an unbiased media organisation. Shameless. Respect the spirit of Olympics.” The photo in question is an action shot of Hou lifting, while displaying a strained expression on her face."
Canadian rugby coach fired following tweets criticizing Olympic women's team - "A veteran of the Canadian men’s rugby team, who faced a stampede of criticism after he wrote a series of tweets criticizing the political stances taken by the national women’s rugby sevens team, has been fired by Rugby Canada. Jamie Cudmore, a former player who was serving an assistant coach for the men’s national XVs team, as well as running the national development academy in Langford, B.C., was terminated"
Only left wing views are allowed
Scott Stinson: Tokyo is a disaster. Why would anyone want the Olympics after this? - "It is a terribly familiar story. A city and country bids for the Games, wins the prize, and then spends billions to meet the requirements of the biggest sporting event in the world. The party is fun, but the clean up is a mess. The good legacy projects are matched by those that don’t have a long-term purpose. The International Olympic Committee watched as wealthy Western nations stopped bidding for the Games and their associated costly headaches, and then it promised to promote sustainability as a key goal of an Olympiad. But the idea that the IOC was doing this for anyone other than themselves has been proven utterly false by the events of Tokyo 2020... Tens of thousands of Olympic visitors are arriving from countries dealing with COVID-19 surges, even as Tokyo itself is having a surge of its own. And, in a related matter, a local state of emergency will keep fans out of the stands, which was the last remaining hope that organizers could recoup some of the billions of dollars already spent, after they long since abandoned the prospect of visiting foreign tourists... Public-opinion surveys suggest the Japanese certainly don’t want to host one now, with around 80 per cent of respondents against the idea. Vocal opponents have included politicians, doctors and epidemiologist, newspapers, business leaders and even an Olympic medallist, Kaori Yamaguchi, who said she felt the country had been “cornered” into hosting the Games amid the pandemic. That sounds about right. The IOC gets the vast majority of its revenue from global television rights, and those deals would not have been paid in the absence of Tokyo 2020... Few Japanese will experience the venues built for this specific purpose, but the debt created will last for years. Talk of Olympic legacies will mostly be about the ones they hope are not created: virus outbreaks that leak from the bubble into the wider public."
Did the Tokyo Olympics drive Japan’s COVID-19 surge?
33-Year Low: U.S. Viewer Numbers Collapse for Woke Olympics Opening
Shelby Houlihan Blames A Burrito For Her Ban From Tokyo Olympics - "Shelby Houlihan, the middle-distance runner who currently holds two U.S. records, says she's been banned from the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone. Houlihan says she's clean and is blaming the test result on a pork burrito she got from a food truck... "We concluded that the most likely explanation was a burrito purchased and consumed approximately 10 hours before that drug test from an authentic Mexican food truck that serves pig offal near my house in Beaverton, Oregon." Houlihan is now pointing to studies that show nandrolone occurs naturally in some pigs. Experts who spoke with NPR say a link is possible, but is not so clear-cut... Schumacher says Houlihan's case resembles those of other U.S. track stars such as Ajeé Wilson and Jarrion Lawson — both of whom were banned due to failed doping tests but were later cleared after officials determined they had eaten tainted beef."
French Open’s response to Naomi Osaka is a shameful moment for tennis - "As the fallout from Naomi Osaka’s decision to withdraw from Roland Garros continued, Osaka’s fellow athletes rallied behind her to offer their support. Shortly after her first round win over Irina Camelia Begu on Monday night, Serena Williams said she empathised with Osaka: “The only thing I feel is that I feel for Naomi,” she said. “I feel like I wish I could give her a hug because I know what it’s like. Like I said, I’ve been in those positions. We have different personalities, and people are different. Others responded directly to Osaka on social media. NBA guard Kyrie Irving, who himself has been fined a total of $60,000 for skipping media obligations this season, commented: “We are all with you Queen. Just be you, that will always be enough.” Meanwhile, Stephen Curry said: “You shouldn’t ever have to make a decision like this – but so damn impressive taking the high road when the powers that be don’t protect their own. Major respect.” Osaka had announced in a statement last week that she would not conduct her press obligations during the tournament, a decision that led to six days of attention and widespread discussion across the internet. After Osaka defeated Patricia Maria Tig on Sunday to reach the second round, the grand slam tournaments announced that they would fine her $15,000 and warned that she could receive an even harsher punishment for repeated offences including possible expulsion from the tournament. A day later Osaka announced her withdrawal, revealing that she has suffered “long bouts of depression” and anxiety from attending press conferences."
"Mental health" is a great excuse to refuse to do the job you signed up to do and yet be acclaimed by the chattering masses as a hero
If you can't attend a press conference, maybe you need to quit and go into therapy
The same people who cheer this also think male and female athletes should get paid the same even if the latter bring in less money, and are unable to see the link between publicity (e.g. press conferences) and money
Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) - "Sports are physical and mental. You don’t get credit for letting fear/anxiety get the best of you. You get credit when you overcome the pressure and perform in spite of it. Unless you’re a woman, apparently. But I think it’s incredibly condescending to coddle female athletes." | not twitter - "Sports are physical and mental. You don’t get credit for letting fear/anxiety get the best of you. You get credit when you overcome the pressure and perform in spite of it. Unless you’re a woman, apparently. But I think it’s incredibly condescending to coddle female athletes."
Matt Walsh on Twitter - "We now have decorated Olympic athletes quitting in the middle of the competition because they're sad. What an absolute embarrassment. But in some ways an appropriate representation of a country that has gone soft."
Seth Dillon on Twitter - "We sympathise with quitters and losers and wish them strength to overcome obstacles towards future success. We do not however celebrate quitters and losers. Doing so creates a perverse societal incentive towards narcissistic victim mentality."
"Simone Biles just said sitting out the big competitions shows how strong you really are. That's like saying soldiers who run away from battle are courageous. Cowardice is not courage; weakness is not strength. Great athletes understand this."
Sargon of Akkad - Posts | Facebook - "If you didn't win, that's okay, but don't expect a medal."
Sargon of Akkad - Posts | Facebook - "Trans weightlifter Laurel Hubbard hailed a ‘hero’ after making Olympics history"
"Heroes win. I'm sick of the lionisation of losers, which seems to be an increasingly common progressive trait."
Liberals fetishise failure and weakness after all
Facebook - "No one is praising Djokovic as a heroic figure for dropping out of mixed doubles, citing an injury. We aren't glad he's prioritizing self-care in elite sports? 🤔"
Meme - "Jesse Kelly @ @JesseKellyDC: We used to be a culture run by men. We are now a culture entirely run by women. which is why we used to celebrate competition and success and now we celebrate vomiting your emotions all over the place at every turn."
Simone Biles' withdrawal is more impressive than winning
Maybe professional athletes should focus on losing/withdrawing rather than winning, and liberals will praise them even more than if they had won
Apparently sabotaging your team by withdrawing at the last minute is a good thing. Probably only for black females though
Why are we celebrating Simone Biles for quitting the Olympics? - "Let’s be honest: Simone Biles bottled it. She performed very badly on the vault – scoring just 13.766, her lowest vault score ever – and she decided to call it a day. She decided to duck out of the entire Olympics. She decided to hang up her leotard and leave the rest of the US gymnastics team to carry on the fight for a medal (they got silver). There’s not necessarily any shame in this, although abandoning your teammates is never a good thing to do. But can we stop pretending that what she did was heroic? That her decision to put her ‘mental health’ before her Olympian duties is worthy of gushing praise? It isn’t... the current celebration of her quitting the Olympics as ‘true heroism’, as better even than if she had won gold, feels deeply troubling. It suggests the cult of the loser is out of control; that society’s valorisation of ‘victims’ over winners is now so entrenched that we even prefer our Olympians when they’re running away from the challenge than when they’re fighting tooth and nail for gold... It’s the ‘mental health’ talk I don’t like. ‘Prioritising mental health’ seems to have become the go-to excuse for people who just can’t be arsed. Already this year we’ve seen Naomi Osaka quit the French Open because she didn’t want to do media interviews, judging them to be bad for her mental health. Prince Harry won’t shut up about his mental health. For him, ‘prioritising mental health’ has become a justification for spilling the beans on his messed-up family to any big media platform that will have him. I’ve lost count of the number of students I’ve met over the years who say the reason they No Platform speakers they disapprove of is because they want to protect their own mental health. ‘What about my mental health?!’ has become a kind of free pass for bad, immoral or narcissistic behaviour, whether it’s talking down your family, censoring people you dislike, or quitting sports competitions when the going gets tough. The problem here isn’t really Biles. None of us has access to her mind or soul. We can’t know what’s really going on. No, it’s the absolutely mad response to her quitting. She has been idolised. Her walking away is being turned into a moral lesson for the world. It’s okay to give up! ‘Simone Biles’ withdrawal is more impressive than winning’, says one headline. Is it though? The New York Times has praised her for ‘rejecting stoicism’. But isn’t stoicism central to sport? Especially to the Olympics, which is entirely about self-drive and self-sacrifice to the end of achieving superhuman feats. Michelle Obama got the social-media world hot under the collar by gushing over Biles. ‘Am I good enough? Yes I am. [That’s] the mantra I practice daily’, she said. I’m sorry, but if aspiring sports stars practised this mantra, they’d never get anywhere. Not feeling like you’re ‘enough’, and always wanting to push harder and faster, is what the Olympics is all about. Michelle Obama’s trite, Oprah-style platitudes grate against the singular devotion that the Olympian ideal demands. This is what is worrying about the praise for Biles – it looks like further confirmation that our societies are abandoning the virtues of courage, determination and aspiring to victory in favour of celebrating people’s feelings of weakness. So Biles is brave not for all the astonishing things she has achieved in gymnastics, but for telling everyone she has mental-health problems... A new generation is being encouraged to admire those who fail or quit more than those who go on, against all the odds, to achieve great and wonderful things. That is a betrayal of the Olympian ideal, and of the broader human ideal of making good on one’s life and one’s talents. We urgently need a countercultural pushback against this love of losers. It can start with recognising that Biles’ abandonment of the Olympics was sad, not heroic."
'Sad, lonely feeling': Tokyo man evicted twice, 50 years apart, for Olympic construction - "When Kohei Jinno was evicted from his family home to clear the way for the construction of the National Stadium for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he was sad but proud to contribute to Japan in a moment of national triumph. But when he was evicted again in 2013, at age 80, so the government could rebuild the stadium for the 2020 Games, it felt like a bitter twist of fate made worse by what he saw as official indifference."
Tokyo Olympics: Each athlete to get 14 free condoms but they can't use them - Here's why - "they hope that they bring that back to their home countries as souvenirs."
Irish Gymnast Disproves Claim That Olympic Cardboard Beds Are 'Anti-Sex' Beds - "Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan decided to put the 'anti-sex' bed to test by jumping on his cardboard bed at the athletes' village in Tokyo and proved that it was quite durable and called it 'fake news'...
Athletes at the Tokyo Olympics will be given cardboard beds in the Olympic village as organizers attempt to promote eco-consciousness."
Gwen Berry’s Olympic trials protest is a taste of what’s to come in Tokyo. aka "Black Female Athletes Score for Activism"
Meme - "AMERICA... A COUNTRY SO GREAT EVEN THE PEOPLE WHO HATE IT WON'T LEAVE"
'Stomp Him': Olympic Athlete Turning Back On Flag Has History of Racist Tweets Against Whites, Asians, Mexicans AND Made Rape Jokes. - "Berry, whose participation in the U.S. Olympic trials for hammer throwing led to a viral photo of her turning her back to the flag, has also used her platform to advocate for left-wing causes including racial and social justice."
Trans Olympic athlete Chelsea Wolfe wanted to burn US flag on podium - "BMX Freestyle rider Chelsea Wolfe qualified as an alternate for the US team at this year’s Olympic games in Tokyo. Recently uncovered Facebook posts from the transgender athlete show they want to burn an American flag on the podium if they win... Fox News reached out to Chelsea Wolfe and they confirmed it was real. They defend their statement by saying they care about America despite their remarks: "One of the reasons why I work so hard to represent the United States in international competition is to show the world that this country has morals and values, that it's not all of the bad things that we're known for. I take a stand against fascism because I care about this country and I'm not going to let it fall into the hands of fascists after so many people have fought and sacrificed to prevent fascism from taking hold abroad. As a citizen who wants to be proud of my home country, I'm sure as hell not going to let it take hold here.""
Protesting "fascism" by burning the flag. Sounds legit
Tokyo Olympics: Taking the knee for Black Lives Matter will be BANNED - "Taking a knee during the Tokyo Olympics or lifting a fist in support of racial equality will be punished as the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday maintained its ban on athletes' protests inside stadiums, at ceremonies and on podiums. The IOC's Rule 50 forbids any kind of 'demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda' in venues and any other Olympic area and the Games body concluded the rule should be maintained following an athlete consultation... The IOC's Athletes' Commission chief Kirsty Coventry, who led a review of the rule, said the majority of athletes consulted were against any protests within the fields of play or the podiums... The IOC's recommendations are the result of a consultation process that started in June 2020 and involved over 3,500 athletes. Coventry said some 70 per cent of those athletes did not want protests on podiums, ceremonies and fields of play."
Olympic medal table - Wikipedia - "The gold first ranking system described above is used by most of the world media, as well as the IOC. While the gold first ranking system has been used occasionally by some American media outlets, newspapers in the United States primarily publish medal tables ordered by the total number of medals won."
Of course, all the ignorant US haters just pretend that the US media only started doing this in 2021 because they're biased and the US was losing
The New Olympics Game Lets Me Be Tubby, And I Appreciate That - "Sega’s Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 lets players who’d otherwise never see the inside of an Olympic stadium imagine themselves taking on the world’s finest on the global stage. Thanks to the game’s character creator that includes my avatar, the completely lovable chonkiest Olympian."
If you can't play as a disabled character, that's ableism
Brazilian Olympic Bronze Swimmer Brings Iconic Meme to Life - "As US swimmer Caeleb Dressel finished the men's 50-meter freestyle and claimed his fourth gold medal of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, another athlete thrashed in the water beside him, joy plastered on his face as he pumped his fists in the air. Bruno Fratus was ecstatic. It didn't matter to him that he came in third — the Brazilian was just happy to have finally won his first-ever Olympic medal. Though well-decorated in other swimming competitions, he missed out on an Olympic accolade in both the Rio and London games. At age 32, Fratus is the oldest Olympic swimmer to win their first medal... His jubilant celebration on Monday has caught attention for its near-exact reenactment of an iconic meme. Known as "Third Place" or "Bronze Medal," the meme features a man biting a medal, flipping off spectators, kissing the woman who gave him the award, and spraying champagne around furiously, only for the final frame to reveal that he came in third place. It has been widely used to poke fun of situations where people celebrate their seemingly mediocre achievements. A side-by-side comparison on Twitter captured Fratus doing several of these things. Photos show the swimmer biting fervently on his bronze medal and smooching his wife (who is also his coach) in an identical pose. More notably, he is visibly more excited than gold medal-winning and silver medalist France's Florent Manaudou... Fratus told Insider in an email that he had seen the meme before, but wasn't thinking of it when he celebrated his medal. "The resemblance is pure coincidence and I honestly love it"... the meme originated from a comic created in 2020 by a Russian sketch artist, who titled it "Never Give Up!". The comic circulated on Reddit and Imgur before edited versions started emerging as a template for memes involving anything from Christopher Columbus to Star Wars."
Tokyo Olympics: Second-fastest man in history's stunned reaction to being beaten by Aussie sprinter - "The second fastest sprinter in history couldn't hide his shock at being beaten by a little-known Australian runner at the Tokyo Olympics. Rohan Browning is Australia's new star of the track after the run of his life to win his 100m heat, leaving 2021 Jamaican world champion Yohan Blake trailing in his wake... His electrifying performance was hailed on social media, but some fans were more impressed with Browning's mullet hairstyle."
Condoms available but hugs discouraged at Beijing Winter Olympics
Beijing Olympics’ COVID cases mounting at faster pace than Tokyo - "Beijing identified more than 100 coronavirus infections over the past three days among those in China for the Winter Olympics, taking the cumulative number of cases to 248 with four days to go before the opening ceremony. At an average of 36 new cases a day, the increase has more than doubled the three-day average for Jan. 25-27 period. The total count already exceeds the number of infections Tokyo had in the run-up to the summer games last year, which were held before the more infectious omicron variant began to circulate. The Japanese capital tallied 121 Olympic-related cases in the three weeks before its opening ceremony. A pickup in Olympic-related COVID cases is expected as more personnel arrive"
Winter Olympics 2022: Beijing reports spike in new virus cases - "After 20 more cases were reported in the capital, officials announced that some local areas had been locked down with residents being tested.
Beijing Olympics: Athletes call out 'impossible to eat' food served at quarantine hotel - "Food doesn't seem to be the highlight of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Russian biathlete Valeria Vasnetsova posted a rather unappealing photo of a meal she received for "breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days already" at one of Beijing's quarantine hotels. Vasnetsova's plate consisted of pasta, potatoes, an indistinguishable red sauce, meat on the bone and plain chicken. The plate lacked greens and, according to Vasnetsova, edibility. The Russian said she could only eat three handfuls of pasta a day "because it's just impossible to eat the rest of the food," causing her to "sleep all day because I don't even have the strength to get out of bed." She added her "bones are sticking out" from losing "a lot of weight." "My stomach hurts, I'm very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes," Vasnetsova wrote in a since-deleted Feb. 3 Instagram post. "I want all this to end. I cry every day. I'm very tired." The quarantine hotels' food, Vasnetsova claimed, is particularly bad for athletes. Vasnetsova knew as much once she grabbed the food left by her door then scanned the hallway for other boxes, including one with prawns, broccoli, salad and fresh fruit for her team doctor. "I honestly don't understand, why is there this attitude to us, the athletes?!" Vasnetsova wrote. Someone in charge seemed to have heard Vasnetsova's complaints, as Russian biathlon team spokesperson Sergei Ayeryanov told the Associated Press she received a better meal – salmon, cucumbers, sausages and yogurt – and would soon get a stationary bike. But Vasnetsova isn't the only Olympian complaining. Finland ice hockey coach Jukka Jalonen said one of his players who's been staying in a quarantine hotel, Marko Antilla, is "not getting good food." German team chief Dirk Schimmelpfennig went even further, calling the hotels' living conditions "unreasonable" and demanding additional food deliveries for athletes"
Convenient, given that they can't leave. I wonder what the Chinese athletes get
Japan’s Star Ice Skater Loves Winnie the Pooh. This Could Get Awkward in Beijing. - "“Ice Prince” Yuzuru Hanyu isn’t just the world’s best male figure skater—he can also make it rain Winnie the Pooh."
WATCH: Dutch Reporter Dragged Away By Chinese Agents During Live Olympics Broadcast - "a Dutch reporter was pulled away from the camera as he reported on live TV from the Beijing Olympics while the shocked Dutch anchorwoman looked on. According to one translator, the anchorwoman said, “We are going to China, to our correspondent Sjoerd. Sjoerd, you are near the stadium, what is China gonna show in the next hours?” The translator said Sjoerd den Daas, a correspondent for NOS Journaal, responded, “Yeah, well, we are getting pulled away, as you might notice, we have also been forced to leave another area, so I fear we’ll have to get —” “The interruption came from a man wearing a black jacket and a red band around the sleeve which appears to distinguish him a ‘Public Security Volunteer,’ a citizen-led neighbourhood watch established to help police maintain order”"
China’s Espionage Plans for the 2022 Winter Olympics: What Athletes Should Expect - "First, the athletes must be aware that the information they provide on their visa applications has been used to create files and open-source collection efforts on them. That research effort identifies and places athletes into at least two categories: First, those who have espoused public views that the CCP deems threatening, such as issues relating to democracy, freedom, human rights, Uyghurs, Tibet, minorities, Hong Kong, women’s rights, homosexuality, and/or transgender issues. And second, those that have made public statements in support of China (what the CCP would call “friends of China”). The first group can threaten China’s image by making public statements at the Winter Olympics, while the second group can be exploited to represent China in a positive light. Regardless of category, however, athletes can expect to have their cellphone signals intercepted upon arrival in Beijing. Cellphone towers will record everything from the metadata to actual content of messages. The information gathered from the interceptions will be relayed to China’s Ministry of Public Security. There are several national security laws that require companies to provide all communications and associated information to the state’s intelligence and security services upon request. There are also reports from China on criminal organizations using fake cellphone towers to collect personal information on individuals and using the information for a variety of fraud schemes. Beijing requires all athletes to install a smartphone app called MY2022 to report health and travel data while in China. The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab reported the app as having significant encryption and security flaws and a censorship list (albeit currently inactive) of 2,442 “illegal words.” The security flaws are by design, allowing authorities to access phones. Such subtle approaches are common among intelligence services. Once at the Olympic Village, the athletes will be greeted by numerous physical and information security measures. The extensive security measures will be openly advertised as necessary to protect the athletes from COVID-19 – China does not want to put the health of the athletes at risk, as this would embarrass China’s leaders before the world. Therefore, athletes will have limited access to places and people. This practice is standard for large-scale events. Beijing has promised to provide Olympians internet access at official venues sites and hotels that will allow them to bypass the Great Firewall and access websites banned in China (everything from Facebook and Twitter to Gmail and YouTube, as well as many foreign news sites). That access will most certainly be monitored. Participating companies providing communications and network support, such as Huawei Technologies Co. and Iflytek Co., work closely with China’s Ministry of Public Security. Both are on U.S. export denial lists and Huawei has been accused in U.S. civil and criminal courts of commercial espionage. Several other onsite IT service providers have been banned by foreign countries for their collection of personal data. All laptop communications will be monitored and provided, in near real time, to China’s security services... Personal behavior will also be watched and catalogued by the Chinese government. Olympic athletes are known for their after-hours celebratory partying. As one would expect, young adults mostly in their 20s, in outstanding physical condition, coming off the most stressful and probably significant event in their lives, are likely to let off a little steam... That information may be immediately used or just held for future opportunities... Many of the world’s governments are advising their athletes to take precautions while at the Olympics. Such measures include using new laptops, cellphones, and email addresses, and never accessing any online account with your regular password, which will result in the account being compromised. Devices taken to Beijing should not be used (or at least be thoroughly cleaned) upon return."
US-Born Skater Who Defected to Team China Blasted After Last Place Finish - "Chinese Olympics fans erupted on social media, furious that California-born skater Zhu Yi defected to China for the games but finished in a disastrous dead last place during her debut for Team China... The American-born skater has been trying to make a dent in China’s skating scene since 2018 when she changed her name to a more Chinese-sounding name, dumped her U.S. citizenship, and announced her desire to become a Chinese Olympian... Despite all the effort, Yi still catches criticism for not yet being fluent in Mandarin despite being born to a pair of Chinese nationals living in the U.S. at the time of her birth"
Canada-born goalie for Team China reveals she is prohibited from speaking English in interviews - "The 26-year-old athlete was asked by a reporter during the interview if she could take a few questions in English, Reuters reported. Zhou consulted an aide nearby and responded in Mandarin that she was not allowed to do so. The aide then told reporters in English, “She’s not allowed to speak English. I’ll try to translate for her.” When asked about her goals for the Games, Zhou answered haltingly in Mandarin, which the aide translated to English. A journalist also posed a question about the meaning of the name she adopted to join Team China. The aide translated her reply, explaining that “‘Jia’ means like ‘nice’ and ‘warm’ and ‘beautiful’.” Zhou whispered the word “auspicious,” to the aide, who then relayed the word to the reporter. Zhou, known as Kimberly Newell in her birth country Canada, is among a number of foreign-born athletes who were recruited to play for the Chinese national team at the Beijing Olympics."
Some people had this bizarre notion that since the Olympics were being held in China, there was nothing wrong with her not being allowed to speak English - ignoring the fact that the Olympics are an international event, she was almost certainly talking to non-Chinese media and her Mandarin wasn't good
Eileen Gu defends China’s internet freedom. Her message is censored. - "Controversy has swirled around U.S.-born skier Eileen Gu ever since she said she would compete in the Olympics as a member of the Chinese team rather than for the U.S., and all that chatter only got louder after she won a gold medal Tuesday. Amid the internet furor over her citizenship and her identity, a comment she made intended to defend China’s internet freedom backfired... “Why can you use Instagram and millions of Chinese people from mainland cannot,” one Instagram user fired off at Gu in Instagram comments made before her competition in women’s freeski big air. “Why you got such special treatment as a Chinese citizen. That’s not fair, can you speak up for those millions of Chinese who don’t have internet freedom[?]” nstagram is blocked in China, along with other international social media apps including Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp. “[A]nyone can download a vpn its literally free on the App Store,” Gu, who has repeatedly dodged questions about her citizenship and geopolitics, promptly responded. A screenshot of her comment made the rounds on Weibo after she snagged the gold medal. Many Weibo users marveled at Gu’s unwavering ability to push back against “keyboard warriors” and defend “the motherland.” Others, however, were irked by Gu’s comment, and invoked the phrase, “Why don’t they eat minced meat?” — a quote by a Chinese emperor taken to reflect his frivolous disregard for his famished citizens and his poor understanding of their plight. “Literally, I’m not ‘anyone.’ Literally, it’s illegal for me to use a VPN. Literally, it’s not fxxking free at all,” one Weibo user railed. In recent years, Chinese authorities have blocked many VPN services, punished individual Chinese citizens who used VPNs to circumvent the Great Firewall and criminalized some for their speech made outside of China’s internet. The government in November also introduced a set of draft rules seeking to ban providers of tools, such as VPNs, that can help web users bypass state controls on inbound information. Ironically, the screenshot of Gu defending China's internet freedom was censored on Weibo on Tuesday after being shared 3,000 times. The original Weibo post still exists, but the screenshot of her VPN comment has turned blank, causing mockery to go even further. “What is there to brag about a country where [that screenshot] can’t see the light of day?” another Weibo user asked... China doesn’t recognize dual citizenship, and according to The New York Times, no official record shows Gu has renounced her American citizenship. Rumors in China speculate that Gu actually does hold dual citizenship, as an exception to the rule. But what really shakes Chinese nationals at home and expats abroad to the core is her effortless straddle of the two countries... At a time when many in China feel keenly the anxiety of losing out in cutthroat competition, and when Chinese expats in the U.S. grapple with a painful reality of being caught in the crossfire between two superpowers, Gu’s experience is a notable exception. But this is not what censors want people to take away from Gu’s success. Li Yinuo, a writer behind a popular WeChat blog on parenting and diaspora life, said Wednesday on Weibo that an essay she published hours before titled, “What does [Gu’s] success have to do with commoners?” was censored by WeChat. “In a system that judges people by their success or failure, most people are losers and victims,” Li wrote in her pulled article. “Only when we applaud each individual's efforts and achievements will we move toward a better society. This is also the best protection we can offer the Eileen Gus.”"
Russian Skater Breaks Down After Missing Gold in Kamila Valieva Final - "The Russian figure skater Alexandra Trusova cut a distressed figure after claiming silver in the women's singles figure skating competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Thursday, crying and threatening to quit the sport."
Rep. Mike Waltz on Twitter - "NBC refused to air my Olympics ad with @EnesFreedom unless we censor U.S. corporate logos of the Genocide Games sponsors. We won’t let them silence us. Here’s the ad that NBC and the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t want you to see 👇"
Report: Beijing Winter Olympics See Lowest Ever Ratings
China has strict rules for dual citizenship, but apparently not when it comes to elite athletes - "Like many of the athletes representing Team China, Gu was born and trained in a foreign country but competes for China. However, it's unclear whether she or any of the others have given up their foreign passports to comply with China's rules banning dual citizenship. Or whether China has bent the rules to get more elite athletes on board... "The Olympic Charter Rule 41 is very clear, which requires the athletes to have the citizenship for representing a country"... Gu herself has remained ambiguous on the topic. "I'm American when I'm in the US, and I'm Chinese when I'm in China"... Team China's American-born ice hockey goalie Jeremy Smith recently told ESPN he did not renounce his US citizenship and China did not ask him to."
