Storm warning about the Olympics? In an interview given to the Danish channel Tv2, Ye Zhaoying, former Chinese badminton champion, claims to have been forced to lose her semi-final of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney to favor her compatriot Gong Zhichao for the final against the Dane Camilla Martin .
« They told me before the match that it shouldn’t be too obvious. I also didn’t have to tire Gong Zhichao, I had to lose in straight sets. If you rewatch the game, I play at the beginning, but then I start to put the shuttle voluntarily outside or in the net “, declared the one who had taken the bronze medal during these Olympic Games.
“As an individual, I could not oppose the system”
Ye Zhaoying on the instructions received
« We feel very powerless, because we are alone against the system. The Olympics is almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an athlete, so it’s really sad. But as an individual, I couldn’t oppose the system “, she continued.
In a statement, the world badminton federation said he takes this matter very seriously. The Dane Thomas Lund, its president, assured that he wanted to protect ” the integrity of this sport by very firm measures against any arrangement ».
The former Chinese player gave this interview in Malaga, Spain, where she lives in exile with her husband, former Chinese football star Hao Haidong. The two former glories explained “ have almost no chance of returning to China “Since the strong criticism addressed by the footballer to the regime.
