hinese state media questioned an Olympic gold medallist about her “masculine look” and when she would get married, sparking outrage on-line.
Gong Lijiao, a four-time Olympian, got here first within the girls’s shot-put competitors with a private better of 20.58 meters (67.5 toes).
In an interview on Sunday, which aired on state-owned CCTV, a sports activities correspondent might be heard saying: “Gong Lijiao offers me the impression of a masculine girl.”
The reporter, Lu You, then requested Ms Lijiao: “You was once a masculine girl for the sake of shot-put. However transferring ahead, are you able to be your self?”
The 32-year-old replied: “If I don’t prepare in a while, then possibly I’ll shed weight, after which get married and have children,” she stated. “The trail one should stroll in life.”
Ms Lijiao was then requested whether or not she had a boyfriend, what she was in search of in a companion and whether or not she or a potential love curiosity can be higher at arm-wrestling.
The interview ended with Ms Lijiao laughing and saying: “I don’t arm-wrestle. I’m very light.”
1000’s took to social media to name out the interviewer’s line of questioning.
“She is an Olympic champion, and that isn’t sufficient to maintain you from citing being skinny, getting married and having youngsters?” one consumer on the Douban platform wrote, based on the South China Morning Publish.
“It’s 2021; being wholesome and assured makes you stunning.”
One other consumer on microblogging platform Weibo stated: “We should always not solely discuss girls’s marriage and look but in addition their goals and success.”
Others said the questions had been discriminatory and body-shamed Ms Lijiao.
A Weibo dialogue web page on Lijiao and the query “Is marriage the one factor we will talk about about girls?” has been seen nearly 300 million occasions, producing greater than 140,000 posts.
Ms Lijiao responded to the put up from her official Weibo account.
“This utterly says what I’m considering!” she wrote. “Thanks!”
