False: Image showing subtitles of table tennis gold medalist Chen Meng’s interview is fabricated
An image showing Paris Olympics gold medalist Chen Meng having a TV interview after defending her title in women’s singles table tennis was widely shared on Aug. 9 with a claim that she criticized the audience and Liu Guoliang, the president of China’s Table Tennis Association.
The subtitles in the image, which supposedly transcribe what she said, read:
“Even though I won, no one cheered for me. When I turned around to look at the audience, they were all silent. There were even people booing and giving me the finger. Liu Guoliang from our team looked scowling and somewhat disdainful of me. Am I allowed to say that?”
(“我赢了都没人给我加油，我转头一看观众席都在沉默，给我喝倒彩竖中指的，还有我们队的刘国梁，那个脸黑得和锅底似的，有点看不起我的样子。这能说吗？”)
The image can be found in many online posts on X (here and here), Facebook, QQ.com and NetEase. They have thousands of likes and discussions about Chen defeating the teammate Sun Yingsha by 4-2 on Aug. 3.
The logo of CCTV 5 Sports channel visible at the top right corner indicates the interview was done by the state-controlled media.
Annie Lab found the original video uploaded by CCTV and watched the interview. What Chen said was completely different from the text on the viral image.
In the interview with CCTV, the 30-year-old veteran first expressed her excitement and joy over the unexpected outcome of the match, as she had a hard time competing against Sun in the past three years.
She also commented on Sun’s formidable skills and swift play style and expressed gratitude towards the audience for supporting both players. Chen did not mention anything related to the audience’s reactions.
The fabricated subtitles echoed the sentiment widely shared and discussed on Chinese social media, which was filled with hostile messages to Chen.
Sun, a well-liked athlete in China with a large fan base, has over 14 million followers on Douyin and Weibo together. Her popularity over Chen was observably apparent in the audience’s reactions during the match.
There was booing heard in the arena directed at Chen when she scored, reported the media, including the South China Morning Post, BBC and Reuters.
People chanted “Refund!” in Mandarin when Chen took photos with her medal on the podium, as a video recorded by an audience shows.
Sing Tao Headline and HK01 also reported that a spectator raised the middle finger at Chen when Chen waved at the crowd after the match.
The last sentence in the fake subtitles was likely adopted from what Pan Zhanle, Olympics gold medal winner in swimming, said — “这能说吗?” or “Am I allowed to say that?” in English. It became a catchphrase when he said it before answering a question about the food quality at the Paris Olympics, according to Now TV.
Beijing police arrested a woman who had been “defaming athletes and coaches” on Weibo, the authority said in a statement.
Weibo said it removed more than 12,000 posts and comments and suspended more than 300 accounts, meanwhile.
State-owned media, such as Global Times, also published articles criticizing “distorted fan culture” in sports.
The same claim was also debunked by AFP.
