In the women’s singles table tennis final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Chinese player Chen Meng on August 3 defeated her teammate Sun Yingsha 4-2 to win the gold medal. However, some on-site Chinese spectators exhibited surprising behavior, such as booing directed at one of the players during the match, as the fandom culture surrounding table tennis in the country seemingly drove them to support certain individuals rather than Team China as a whole. The incidents sparked widespread controversy on Chinese social media. Some so-called fans used the occasion of the Olympic final to post irrational attacks on Chinese athletes and coaching staff online, prompting the Weibo microblogging platform to take strict measures against such malicious behavior. Weibo removed over 12,000 posts discussing the event and imposed temporary or permanent bans on more than 300 accounts based on the severity of their violations, according to an announcement by the platform. In recent years, the trend of fandom culture in Chinese table tennis has become increasingly apparent, as the younger generation now views table tennis players as idols. [TechNode reporting, Weibo announcement]
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