Chinese state media Global Times has slammed the Australian news website (news.com.au) for allegedly defaming China's youngest athlete Quan Hongchan, who won a gold medal at Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, 5 August.
What's In the Controversial Story?
Global Times criticized the Australian news outlet owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for an article titled 'Chinese diver, 14, doesn't crack a smile after perfect score in 10m final'. The Beijing-based newspaper took objection to the article that claimed that the athlete did not smile in spite of winning a gold medal in women's diving 10-metre platform final.
According to the article published by the Australian news website, she was "entirely pokerfaced, the teen athlete didn't crack even the slimmest of smiles. Viewers were shocked at Quan's reaction to her perfect dive, which all but guaranteed her a spot on the podium."
And she smiled only when her coach lifted her like a trophy, as per the report.
In the caption given in the photo, it was written that she "looked devastated after being given a perfect score." This did not go well with the Global Times which slammed the report for calling the young gold medalist "taciturn teenager."
Netizens Angry
The Chinese netizens vented out their anger against news.com.au for spreading misinformation. Reportedly, people questioned the ethics of the journalists who wrote and published the story and sought an apology for insulting a young athlete.
However, the Australian website has not responded to China's article nor it has deleted/modified the story by the time this story went for publishing.
The Global Times alleged that it has become "customary tactic" of Western Media to defame the Chinese. It may be recalled that there was an uproar last week over an article in the New York Times with the title "The Chinese Sports Machine's Single Goal: The Most Gold, at Any Cost."
