Biased coverage of Chinese athletes at the Olympics is simply disgraceful

***Editor's note: *Hamzah Rifaat Hussain is a former visiting fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington D.C. and serves as assistant researcher at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) in Pakistan. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The Olympics has been the leading international sporting event dating back to 1896 in Athens. It is also supposed to be an apex platform to build bridges for peace between states and let soft power define the course of international relations as athletes and sportsmen show case their talent and win admirers across the globe.

Yet, the unfortunately biased coverage of Chinese athletes at the Tokyo games of 2021 clearly suggests that anti-China lobbyists are employing deplorable tactics by combining politics with sports through subjective depictions of sportsmen. Such tactics do not bode well for the pursuit of global peace through soft power at international sporting events and underlines an innate bias towards Beijing without any justification or basis. The Olympics should be about shining faces and triumphs as memories of pride for respective countries, for which China is no exception.

Yet, in a Reuters report titled "China's Hou wins 49-kg weightlifting gold" disgracefully depicted a photo of Hou struggling to lift the load when in fact her tireless efforts resulted in pride for her country worthy of accolades and acclaim. Similarly, the NBC network used an incomplete map of China during its broadcast of the opening ceremony despite the significance of the one-China policy.

While the publishers and Western social media users have defended the depiction and attempted to downplay it, several questions remain unanswered: Why is the spirit of the Olympics being compromised upon by media outlets given that all athletes are to be provided with positive coverage without any consideration for ideology, political systems or orientation?

A screenshot of the Reuters report titled "China's Hou wins 49-kg weightlifting gold."

Furthermore, what explains such deplorable tactics in international sports and what do they aim to achieve beyond slandering? On both counts, the publishers do not have any answer, and the rebuttal from the Chinese embassy in Colombo Sri Lanka underlines how politicizing an athlete's achievement's and the tedious and cumbersome process involved is simply disgraceful.

Similar to diplomatic relations between states which should also be anchored in mutual respect, multilateral sports events such as the Olympics should guarantee universal respect for sportsmen in a depoliticized manner. The reaction from Chinese social media users over Hou's lopsided coverage is an understanding that such coverage is tantamount to a smear campaign with ubiquitous promotion. Note that such campaigning will not dampen the resolve of Chinese athletes who will strive towards winning gold medals and making the country proud in the face of propaganda sprees. Given the importance of diffusing tensions between countries across the world in a pandemic-ridden environment, such coverage clouds the spirit of the Olympics.

That is precisely what is happening and warrants international attention given that the publishers lack good reason or justification for such promotions. Upon Chinese shooter Yang Qian winning the first gold medal of the Olympics and setting the trend for global shooters to test their long range capabilities, CNN published a headline titled "Gold for China… and more COVID-19 cases."

There is no link between spikes in COVID-19 cases either domestically or internationally and Yang's monumental feat, but one was vindictively established by CNN with no justification for doing so. It leaves the impression that China must be linked with COVID-19 at all costs with numerous theories already exposed, discredited and debunked.

The fact that such discredited narratives are being promoted in international sporting events is also unfathomable given that no Chinese media outlet has demonized American athletes or attempted to depict Western achievements in a negative light by linking them with a whole host of issues that America confronts domestically and internationally.

An understanding must exist that the sanctity of the Olympics must be safeguarded at all costs despite political tensions. This is true for other sporting events as well with Reuters, NBC and CNN refusing to exercise restraint or divorce politics from sports. If that is the case, then such media organizations cannot claim to be unbiased, impartial or non-partisan if such shameless coverage is promoted. By putting ideologies, clashes and discredited narratives about COVID-19 at the forefront, Reuters and CNN have not done the Olympics, the sanctity of international sports or the achievements of Chinese athletes any justice.

(CGTN)