In January 2025, Guo Bin, the husband of former world champion table tennis player Wang Nan, became a topic of discussion after a comment he made during a live stream. He was criticized by netizens for "riding on someone else's coattails," "seeking attention," and "exploiting" the popularity of champions.
Guo Bin and Wang Nan are known for being protective and generous. After the 2024 Olympics, they even gifted Sun Yingsha a three-kilogram pure gold medal. However, in 2025, they became the subject of online criticism.
Guo Bin's mention of Sun Yingsha in his live streams began in November 2024, shortly after she had withdrawn from WTT competitions due to injury and was recuperating. Despite this, her "big brother" Guo Bin frequently brought her up in his live streams. As the husband of former national table tennis player Wang Nan, Guo Bin has always maintained a good relationship with Ma Long, Sun Yingsha, and Wang Chuqin. After the Olympics, the couple even custom-made three-kilogram pure gold medals for the three athletes, which impressed many netizens.
From that point on, Guo Bin often mentioned Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin during his live streams, sometimes reminiscing about interesting events or sharing videos of Sun Yingsha training. Initially, people enjoyed listening to his stories, but as he continued to mention Sun Yingsha in every live stream, it gradually aroused the doubts of many viewers.
Around November 8, 2024, Guo Bin once again mentioned Sun Yingsha's name during a live stream and tried to cover up by saying he wasn't "riding on her coattails." However, the more he emphasized that he wasn't riding on her coattails, the more the audience felt that he was. Some viewers began to criticize him and remind him to be careful with his words. However, Guo Bin, who had been drinking, paid no heed to the reminders in the chat and even started cursing in the live stream. He said that he had a good relationship with Sha Sha and had taken care of her since she was a little kid. Regarding the online comments accusing him of riding on her coattails, he showed disdain and declared, "I'm not interested in her fame; what does it have to do with me?"
Feeling that this was not enough to vent his frustration, he proudly quoted his wife Wang Nan's words, "Everyone has been popular." His words were intended to dispel suspicions that he was riding on Sun Yingsha's coattails.
For fans who defended Sun Yingsha, Guo Bin also acted like an experienced person. He cited Liu Xiang as an example to say that an athlete's prime is short, and once they leave the field, they lose their popularity. However, some fans interpreted Guo Bin's explanation as sarcastic towards Sun Yingsha.
As a result, there was a surge of voices online questioning and insulting Guo Bin and his wife. It should be noted that Sun Yingsha topped the list of "Most Popular Athletes" on Weibo this year, with hundreds of votes more than the second place, demonstrating the formidable fighting power of netizens who like Sun Yingsha.
As the topic of Guo Bin riding on Sun Yingsha's coattails gained traction, bigger scandals involving Wang Nan and her husband began to surface.
On January 7, 2025, well-known journalist Du Liyan's Weibo post pushed Guo Bin and his wife into the center of public opinion. According to Du Liyan's investigation, Guo Bin's financial situation seemed problematic. According to Tianyancha, his company had nearly 50 risk warnings, including 16 related to tax arrears. The system showed that the total amount of taxes owed by all his companies amounted to a staggering 3.81 million yuan. Although this sum is astronomical for ordinary people, it should be considered small change for the Wang Nan couple. After all, just the pure gold medals they customized in September of this year cost more than that. At the time, gold prices were high, and the stock price of a single gold medal was over one million yuan. How could the couple, who didn't seem unable to pay this amount, be exposed to suspected tax arrears at the beginning of 2025?
Considering the recent WTT controversy, many speculated that Wang Nan and her husband Guo Bin might have been implicated. However, in December 2024, Wang Nan was still engaged in charity and donations. On January 3, 2025, Guo Bin's TikTok account posted a video of him leisurely riding a motorcycle in Hainan. Just the motorcycle and the villa behind him were worth a lot of money. On the same day, another TikTok account suspected to belong to Guo Bin suddenly appeared in Zhang Jike's live stream room. In the live stream, the account lavishly gifted presents, spending thousands of yuan on "Carnival" gifts and quickly ranking among the top three on the gift list. If that account belonged to Guo Bin, he still appeared to be wealthy and not down on his luck.
Just as everyone was puzzled, on January 8, 2025, Du Liyan's Weibo account, which had reported on the risks associated with Guo Bin's company, was banned from being followed by the platform. Therefore, whether there is any connection between Guo Bin, Wang Nan, Liu Guoliang, and WTT remains unknown.
The couple Guo Bin and Wang Nan have been accused of "loving to ride on others' coattails" and "loving to be in the limelight" before. As early as 2016, Guo Bin became a hot topic online due to various bizarre remarks.
In September of that year, when Wang Baoqiang's divorce case was making headlines, as a "good brother" who often played ball with Wang Baoqiang, Guo Bin stood out and fiercely criticized Wang Baoqiang's ex-wife and the reporters who slandered Baoqiang on Weibo using very strong language, even directly cursing. Unsurprisingly, after saying this, he was attacked by many "water army" trolls. This angered him, and he reposted the next morning, angrily confronting netizens. He rode this wave of traffic to become famous online. At that time, netizens had polarized opinions about his behavior. Some said Guo Bin was a real man and true to his nature. Others thought he was building a persona, riding on others' coattails, and seeking attention. However, Guo Bin didn't care and continued to post photos with Wang Baoqiang on Weibo multiple times. The two even spent Wang Baoqiang's first Mid-Autumn Festival after the divorce together. Guo Bin's actions and words of comfort and encouragement were touching.
Just less than half a month after the Wang Baoqiang incident, Guo Bin became a hot topic online again with a single sentence. It was precisely the 918 National Humiliation Day. Everyone was posting messages like "Never Forget National Humiliation, Revitalize China" on social media, and articles exposing Japanese atrocities in China were everywhere. Perhaps influenced by this atmosphere, Guo Bin suddenly posted a dynamic on Weibo. In the post, he scolded the Japanese and claimed that to punish Japan, he would deliberately turn on the faucet in the hotel when traveling or working in Japan to vent his anger.
After this statement was made, it quickly became a hot topic among netizens. Some people said Guo Bin was humorous and patriotic. Others thought his method was childish and wasteful. Later, Wang Nan also came out to "engage in a battle of wits" with netizens, supporting her husband through likes and comments.
Originally, everyone was just joking and commenting for fun. Many people had a good impression of Guo Bin because of his friendship with Wang Baoqiang. However, by November of that year...
Guo Bin, for some unknown reason, suddenly deleted all Weibo posts related to Baoqiang. There were also netizens who revealed that after mentioning Baoqiang's name in Guo Bin's Weibo, they were blocked. At that time, many people suspected that the two had a conflict during these three months. The topic of Guo Bin deleting Weibo even topped the Weibo hot search list. Netizens' sarcastic remarks about Guo Bin being "dramatic" and "changing his face faster than turning a book" were endless. However, neither Guo Bin nor Baoqiang ever spoke up about what happened at that time. To this day, what exactly happened between Guo Bin and Baoqiang back then remains a "Rashomon."
Looking back at the years Guo Bin has been active on the internet, we can see that he is actually a straightforward and tactless person. Many things he gets involved in are not malicious, and sometimes the starting point is goodwill. However, because he is not good at expressing himself, he often fails to convey his meaning clearly and is misunderstood. Guo Bin is well aware of this "shortcoming" of his. He self-deprecatingly calls himself a "country bumpkin" who is often ridiculed, resonating with many netizens.
This time, what he said about Sun Yingsha in the live broadcast should not have been his original intention. After all, the two have been close friends since Sha Sha was young. Whether they ride on each other's coattails or not, both parties probably don't care. The reason Guo Bin hurried to clarify was that he seemed to have been
