In this way, the Chinese women's 4,200-meter freestyle relay team at the Tokyo Olympics lost its gold medal because of doping. Everyone was shocked, didn't they say that we were honest and responsible? Why is it a doping problem again? This is not a case of Sun Yang, and this has become a commonplace problem. In the final analysis, why do our Chinese athletes repeatedly "get hit" on this issue?
Let's talk about the story behind this. First of all, doping is not a new thing, and it is strictly investigated internationally, and we are no exception. Those who were caught in the past, many of them were because of the post-game technical update, and they didn't find out, and they looked back a few years later. Just like the 2008 Beijing Olympics, our women's weightlifting team, two-thirds of the athletes were later canceled for doping, which is big news in the history of the Olympic Games.
So, the question is, why is this happening? Actually, it has nothing to do with our sports system and the career path choices of athletes. You think, these athletes have been selected since childhood, and they have one goal along the way: to win gold medals. This gold medal is not only an honor, but also the key to changing fate. Winning or losing is really a world of difference for them. So, this pressure is huge, and sometimes you will take that "shortcut".
Let's talk about cultural differences. Look at American athletes, such as swimming superstar Phelps, who is a man with 23 Olympic gold medals, and that's it after retiring, with no special treatment. And our athletes, once they win the Olympic gold medal, the treatment is different. It is no wonder that many retired Olympic champions choose to go to the United States, where they can at least enjoy the life of "ordinary people" and do not always have to be pressed by "gold medals".
However, then again, the athletes can't be blamed for this. Shouldn't our sports system also reflect on it? Winning competitions is important, but shouldn't fair competition and clean competition be the core values of sports? The use of doping by athletes is not only an individual problem, but also a problem that the entire system needs to face squarely. It's like a serious illness that has to be cured, isn't it?
Actually, there's another opinion, which may be a bit spicy - some people say that these scandals are not necessarily all bad. Why? They have made everyone see the seriousness of the problem, and perhaps it is this kind of shock that can prompt the whole sports world and even society to reflect and improve more broadly. After all, no one wants to start pinching a cold sweat as soon as the international competition is over, for fear that one day another "gold medal" will fly.
Let's look to the future, and hopefully these experiences will be a turning point in our sporting world, where fairness and respect will become the new standard of competition. After all, every drop of sweat on the sports field should be innocent. It's not just about the individual athletes, it's about the sports culture as a whole. Let's wait and see if the athletes of the new era can bring us more surprises than frightening.