China’s state propaganda outlet Global Times shared the effusive praise of American athletes for Chinese Communist Party “volunteers” at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday, particularly their alleged glee at the fact that the volunteers all perform the same choreographed greeting when an athlete passes by.
Among the other dubious compliments the American athletes were credited with issuing was praise for Big Air Shougang, a ski venue built surrounded by what appears to be an industrial wasteland. The Global Times quoted American skier Alexander Hall calling the venue “pretty perfect-looking.” A teammate, Colby Stevenson, appears in the article describing the venue as “a lot safer” than other urban ski facilities.”
Observers abroad – where they do not face repression by the Chinese Communist Party – have expressed confusion and concern about Big Air Shougang.
The extreme praise from American athletes printed in the Global Times follows a warning from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to the athletes not to say anything that contradicts the Communist Party’s agenda, as they may face “ruthless” persecution.
“I would say to our athletes — you are there to compete,” Pelosi said shortly before the Games began. “Do not risk incurring the anger of the Chinese government because they are ruthless.”
“I know there is a temptation on the part of some to speak out while they are there; I respect that. But, I also worry about what the Chinese government might do to their reputations, to their families,” she added.
Human rights activists, Chinese dissidents, and victims of communism and their allies have spent over a year campaigning against the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on the grounds that it bestows honor upon China that it is unworthy of due to a long list of reasons: its ongoing genocide of the Uyghur people in East Turkistan; decades of repression in Tibet; its mistreatment of athletes, particularly tennis star Peng Shuai; its role in turning what was an isolated outbreak of infectious disease into the Chinese coronavirus pandemic; and its repression of dissidents, people of faith, and anyone deemed a threat to the regime.
No American athlete issued any public statement announcing that they would join a boycott of the Games, and no American athlete has spoken out against China since arriving in Beijing – though some made statements in support of human rights before departing for China.
Now in Beijing, the Global Times claimed Americans only have kind things to say about China.
“Every time I meet 10 volunteers, 10 of them will do the same thing,” the state outlet quoted American skier Nicholas Goepper as saying in an apparent compliment, referring to an effervescent waving gesture performed while shouting “welcome to China!”
Tessa Maud, a snowboarder, published a bizarre video on the Chinese mobile phone app Tiktok claiming to have cried about how “sweet” and “kind” the volunteers are and how the greeting is “the cutest thing ever.”
“The greeting from a Chinese volunteer and Tessa’s interactions with him touched not only the snowboarding phenom herself but also netizens worldwide,” the Global Times alleged.
Chinese state media’s sudden declarations that athletes love the “delicious food, warm-hearted volunteers, strict anti-epidemic measures, [and] perfect snow venues” at what human rights activists have dubbed the “Genocide Games” follows a series of complaints from athletes lamenting that they are being poorly fed and otherwise mistreated, including forced into abrupt quarantine sessions allegedly meant to protect the event from Chinese coronavirus.
Beijing was the epicenter of an out-of-control national outbreak in the country prior to the Opening Ceremonies, according to the statistics the regime last published.
Among the most dramatic condemnations of China’s treatment of athletes was a now-deleted post on Instagram from Russian biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova – who is allowed to compete without a flag despite Russia being technically banned from the Games. Vasnetsova accused communist Olympics organizers of starving out athletes and claimed that she had lost so much weight from just being in the Olympic bubble that her “bones are sticking out.” She posted a photo of a meager plate of what appeared to be food with the text, “I’ve been getting this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for five days now.”
“I only sleep all day because I don’t even have the strength to get out of bed. I only eat three handfuls of pasta a day because it’s just impossible to eat the rest of the food,” Vasnetsova lamented. “My stomach hurts, I’m very pale, and I have huge black circles around my eyes. I want all this to end. I cry every day. I’m very tired.”
Several athletes have also been caught in the Olympics bubble’s kafkaesque coronavirus quarantine protocols, unsure of their infection status, and transported around to various quarantine sites with little information. Polish speedskater Natalia Maliszewska accused Olympics officials of releasing her from quarantine, giving the impression that she would be able to compete, only to send her to another quarantine facility shortly before the event.
“I don’t believe in anything anymore. In no tests. No games. It’s a big joke for me,” she wrote on Twitter, according to the BBC.
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