Genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping welcomed the country’s delegation to the 2024 Paris Olympics to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday, haranguing them about their duty to the Communist Party and greeting them during an extended standing ovation to himself.
China sent a massive, 716-member delegation to the Paris Olympics this month that came home with 91 medals, 40 of them gold. China tied with America for most gold medals of any country but was dwarfed by America’s overall 126 medal haul. The athletes’ participation was not with controversy, as several Chinese swimmers were implicated in longstanding doping allegations and animosity between fans of two Chinese women table tennis players resulted in at least one arrest at home.
The Olympics were nonetheless tremendously popular in China, where fans filled up movie theaters to cheer on their athletes.
Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Li Xi and Han Zheng meet with China’s Olympic delegation for Paris 2024 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 20, 2024. (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via Getty Images)
That popularity appears to have alarmed the Communist Party, which moved following the Olympics Closing Ceremonies to silence Olympians’ online fans and redirect praise towards Xi. Xi addressed the athletes in Beijing on Tuesday, crediting “the country’s growing national strength” under his leadership for their victories.
“China’s delegation has been committed to winning gold medals for morality, conduct and integrity, and has demonstrated sportsmanship and earned broad respect and recognition,” Xi declared, according to the state-run Global Times newspaper.
“The fundamental reason why China has joined the ranks of the world’s leading sports nations and become a major Olympic player is the country’s growing national strength, Xi said,” the state outlet reported.
“He praised the athletes for showing the world the profound heritage of traditional Chinese culture, displaying an open, inclusive, vibrant and enterprising image of modern China, and demonstrating the ambition, courage and determination of the Chinese people.”
“The excellent results of the Chinese sports delegation is a concentrated reflection of the development and progress of the country’s sports cause, and also a microcosm of the achievements of China’s modern construction,” Xi said, “fully demonstrating the strength of China in the new era.”
China’s state-run CCTV broadcaster aired images of athletes standing and applauding for an extended period of time as Xi shook hands with the row of athletes closest to him. The dictator appeared to stop and offer specific greetings to some of the most prominent athletes, including Pan Zhanle, the 20-year-old swimmer who broke his own world record to win the 100-meter freestyle race.
Pan has become a breakout star of the Olympics in his country both for his performances and for serving as a vehicle for the Chinese government’s complaints about Western athletes. Pan accused American and Australian swimmers of being rude to him.
“On the first day, during the 4×100m relay, I greeted Chalmers, but he completely ignored me,” Pan claimed, “and even Alexey from the American team was dismissive. During training, when our coach was on the side, they would splash water directly on him with their flips, which felt quite disrespectful.”
Chalmers expressed confusion at the accusation at the time, as he had publicly praised Pan and said he had not noticed any awkward incidents with the Chinese swimmer.
Pan is not among the 23 swimmers the New York Times revealed this year had failed doping tests before the Olympics, but his world-record pace attracted some skepticism, which again increased support from his Chinese fans.
The swell of popularity, threatening to eclipse Xi, resulted in Pan “voluntarily” shutting down his online social media fan page. Pan told Chinese media he was simply overwhelmed by the attention and state media in turn applauded him for embracing the Communist Party’s war on fan culture.
On Tuesday, Pan was among the athletes breathlessly praising Xi and telling CCTV that his speech “inspired” him to do more for Party glory.
“I felt very excited and inspired, I will work harder in my future training so that I can amaze the whole world again,” Pan said when asked how he assessed Xi’s remarks.
Zhang Yufei, a swimmer who was among those the New York Times revealed tested positive for banned substances, told CCTV she felt “like a warrior” out on the water.
Marksman Shang Lihao gushed, “I feel very privileged to be able to meet with General Secretary Xi. I’m very much inspired by his speech, it was very motivating.”
Zheng Qinwen, who won China’s first-ever gold medal in women’s tennis, revealed that she had flown from America to China only to attend the event with Xi and would be departing at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Beijing time, to return to America for the upcoming U.S. Open tournament.
“I think this is a very important event in my life. No matter what I have to come back. Bringing glory to the country always comes before personal honor,” Zheng declared.
The Global Times reported that Xi referred to Zheng and Pan personally in his address.
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