China star’s explosive account of verbal, physical abuse at hands of official after Games gold
Triple Asian Games champion Wang Li goes viral after video outlines sustained bullying after she refused to give Hangzhou winnings to boss
Chinese officials are investigating accusations that one of their Asian Games gold medallists was verbally and physically abused for months after refusing to give her boss the prize money she won in Hangzhou in 2023.
In a video posted on the social media platform RedNote, dragon boat star Wang Li said that on returning to Yunnan’s Songmao Sports Training Base, director Fan Jiwen demanded the 150,000 yuan (HK$165,559) bonus she got from the national team.
According to the 23-year-old, when she refused, Fan retaliated by restricting her training time and publicly shaming her as “ungrateful”.
He also reportedly told athletes their “salaries and retirement arrangements are all decided by me. I can give you everything and I can take it all back”.
Wang claimed the bullying culminated in Fan recently telling Chinese sport bosses she was retiring through injury, effectively ending her career.
“I begged to stay because I still wanted to win glory for the country, but he lied to his superiors that I was injured and unable to train, completely cutting off my path to compete,” Wang added.