Official Arrest! The Biggest Official Position in Chinese Sports So Far, Deeply Affected Liu Guoliang and Cai Zhenhua
Introduction
On December 19, 2024, as the year was about to end, Gou Zhongwen, the former member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), former deputy director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee, and former director of the General Administration of Sport, was finally arrested. Netizens cheered, and since Gou Zhongwen was investigated in May, many people have been paying attention to this "professional" who has caused trouble for the national table tennis team and the national football team, deeply harming Liu Guoliang and Cai Zhenhua. Now that he has been arrested, it is a great relief.
Parachuted Bureau Chief
In 2016, Liu Peng, then director of the General Administration of Sport, was already quite old and began to consider stepping down. At that time, the most popular candidate was Cai Zhenhua, the deputy director. This table tennis veteran started fighting for the national team in 1979, with his figure appearing in the World Championships in 1981, 1983, and 1985, winning numerous championship medals. In 1991, during the decline of Chinese table tennis, Cai Zhenhua returned from coaching in Italy and took up the mantle of Chinese table tennis. Under his coaching, China's table tennis career improved year by year, almost sweeping all kinds of world championships at the beginning of the 21st century. It was thought that Cai Zhenhua becoming the director-general was a foregone conclusion, but when the actual candidate was announced, fans were stunned: Gou Zhongwen? Who is this? It's no wonder fans didn't recognize him, as this "new director" was not from a sports background; he was the former dean of the China Electronic Information Industry Development Academy, simply put, an engineer from the electronic engineering department. Ah? Letting a researcher guide the direction of sports? Are you kidding me? Regardless of netizens' reactions, this new director officially took office. But ever since he took office, netizens' concerns have repeatedly become reality.
Squeezing Cai Zhenhua Out with Mandatory Physical Tests
Ever since Gou Zhongwen took office, Cai Zhenhua's days have been tough. Treating this former "competitor," Gou Zhongwen gradually stripped Cai Zhenhua of his power. Two years later, this veteran who had fought for Chinese sports for most of his life was transferred to become the vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, regardless of what this position meant, it had little to do with sports projects. After that, Gou Zhongwen began to make drastic "reforms" in the sports industry, the most incomprehensible of which was the "Notice on Further Strengthening Basic Physical Fitness Training and Making Up for Physical Fitness Shortcomings" in 2020. As we all know, the focus of various sports projects is different. For example, table tennis relies on reaction speed, short-distance running relies on explosive power, and long-distance running relies on endurance. But Gou Zhongwen ignored these differences and directly required all athletes to undergo physical fitness tests, not tailored to specific projects but a universal set of test items for all athletes. What is most criticized is linking the results of this so-called physical fitness test with eligibility for world competitions. If the physical fitness test fails, no matter what achievements you've made before, you have to step back. Because of such "pig teammate"-like operations, Olympic champions like Fu Yuanhui and Ye Shiwen had no chance to compete, a real "amateur sports director."
Collective Strike
On June 23, 2017, it should have been the men's singles 16 to 8 match of the ITTF China Open, but the Chinese players started a collective "strike." Table tennis stars like Ma Long and Xu Xin, along with their head coach, declared a "strike" without the consent of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, and their Weibo posts all read the same sentence: "At this moment, we have no heart for battle, only because we miss you, Liu Guoliang!" Why did such an incident occur? It was due to Gou Zhongwen's actions, directly announcing the cancellation of the crucial position of the national table tennis head coach. Where did Liu Guoliang, the head coach, go? He was transferred to become the vice-chairman of the Chinese Table Tennis Association, which sounds like a promotion, but it wasn't. When he was the head coach, he could supervise the training of these younger generations, point out and correct any shortcomings in time, and being at the forefront of the table tennis world, he could also discover promising talents. But this vice-chairman of the Table Tennis Association, although it sounds good, is actually an idle position with little real power, unable to help with training or accomplish practical tasks. Moreover, there were 22 vice-chairmen in the Table Tennis Association at the time, so you can imagine how idle this position really was. With the backbone of the team removed, it's no wonder the athletes collectively withdrew from the competition.
One Goal Counts as 1.5 Goals?
The most absurd thing is that he once proposed an unreasonable rule to promote local players in the league: one goal scored by a U23 player in the Chinese Super League counts as 1.5 goals. Isn't this just a joke? In football matches, scoring several goals means exactly that many goals; scoring two goals counts as three, and if we counted like this, the Chinese football team wouldn't just qualify, we'd be world champions. Fortunately, this rule was not passed; otherwise, who knows what chaos the national football team would have descended into. In 2019, Gou Zhongwen himself reflected, saying, "Chinese football has been hovering at a low level, and we are very anxious. Our work has not been done well." A journalist commented on Gou Zhongwen's behavior, saying, "Because your performance is not good, there are always people who want to be creative, always looking for shortcuts, trying to cover in a few years what others have taken hundreds of years to achieve, and they call it reform; Gou Zhongwen is a typical example." However, this "amateur sports director's" reputation turned around during the Tokyo Olympics when the Chinese delegation concluded with 38 gold, 32 silver, and 18 bronze medals (to be honest, I don't know if this had anything to do with him). Online opinions changed from calling him an "amateur sports director" to "Comrade Zhongwen," and before the Beijing Winter Olympics, he even went to the training site to encourage the athletes, and then another record-breaking achievement of 9 gold, 4 silver, and 2 bronze medals was achieved.
Awaiting Investigation Results
In 2022, this former director-general of the General Administration of Sport finally handed over his command and retired, then served as the deputy director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the CPPCC, and in March of the following year, he became a member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC and deputy director of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee. Until May of this year, Gou Zhongwen was investigated for serious violations of discipline, and in December, after being double-expelled for only a few days, he was finally officially arrested, suspected of bribery and abuse of power, which shows that there are still many unknown things hidden beneath. Next, let's wait for the investigation results and final trial of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. Still, it must be said that the arrest of this "innovative" "amateur sports director" is indeed a great relief.
References:
Xinhua News Agency, "The Supreme People's Procuratorate Decides to Arrest Gou Zhongwen According to Law"
Hongxing News, "Gou Zhongwen, Former Director of the State General Administration of Sports, Was 'Double-Expelled,' and the Notice Said He Seriously Destroyed the Political Ecology of the Sports System"
