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Lars Hamer

Competing at an Olympics is the highlight of any athlete’s career, and for the small number that get to stand on the podium with their arms aloft and a medal around their neck, there should be no better feeling.
But for Chinese gymnast Su Weide, his debut in Paris last year was a moment to forget: abandoned by teammates and hammered by observers back home for costing his team a gold medal.
Worse was to follow, with another crucial mistake on the men’s horizontal bars costing him a podium spot.
Su will make his second appearance at the National Games, where he is expected to defend the floor exercise gold he won in 2021 and will hope to climb back up after his spectacular fall from grace.
Early Life
Su was born on March 19, 2000, in Zibo, Shandong province, and from the outset had a tough start in life. He was born into poverty and both his parents are disabled.
Local media reported that three generations of the Su family lived cramped together in a 49-square-metre house, and like most Chinese athletes, Su did not start gymnastics out of love.

A coach came to his primary school and judged him and his classmates on their genetic disposition to see if they had qualities that suggested athletic capabilities. He was one of the few who did.
He was taken out of school and went to Zibo Amateur Sports School, renowned for its gymnastics programme, which produced 2012 Olympic gold medallist Zhang Chenglong.
Despite his hardship, Su excelled and progressed to the national team.
He first signalled his potential on the floor exercise with a silver medal at the 2018 Chinese Championships, a promise he continued to build upon in the following years.
His breakthrough came three years later, where he shattered the competition to seize the gold medal in the floor exercise at the National Games. But this was no fleeting victory; Su proved his mettle by consistently landing on the podium, claiming another floor exercise silver at the 2022 Chinese Championships.
However, at the 2022 world championships, he was selected only for the alternate squad, but still won gold. Su then went to the Asian Championships in Singapore the following year, where he also snagged an individual bronze on the floor, and later powered the Chinese team to the top of the podium at the World University Games.
But competing alongside Lin Chaopan, Liu Yang, Sun Wei and You Hao at that year’s world championships in Antwerp, there was a worrying sign of things to come.
Su and the team won silver behind Japan after the then 23-year-old fell off the horizontal bar twice.
Paris woes
Su was originally selected in the reserve team at the Paris Olympics, but on July 25, his teammate Sun Wei pulled out with injury.
Su was flown to Paris and arrived at the Olympic Village just four days before he was scheduled to compete.
During the men’s team final, Su lost his grip twice and came crashing down on the mat during his bar routine, effectively handing the gold medal to Japan.
China were in the lead at the midway point with stellar performance on still rings, where 29-year-old veteran Liu Yang scored 15.500, and looked unbeatable after 26-year-old Zou Jingyuan secured 16.000 on parallel bars.

After Su’s tumble, his teammates remained seated with their heads low, staring at the ground as they processed his second costly mistake, leading observers to say that they had “deserted” him following his mistake.
The broadcast repeatedly showed him sitting alone after the event.
A distraught Su apologised and said he felt “sorry for my senior partners in the team”.
“They have worked very hard in this cycle, there were a lot of injuries in the build-up, and because of my errors today, we lost the gold medal,” he added.
But if it was sympathy Su was looking for, he did not get it. The hashtag “Su Weide’s apology” became the top-trending topic on Chinese social media platform Weibo, with many netizens angered by his mistake.
Fans questioned the team’s decision to replace the injured Sun Wei with Su, one day before the qualification round, and pointed out that Su had made the same mistake twice during his bar routine at the World Championships, earning him only 11.166 points at the time.
And just a few days later, Su was ranked fifth in the men’s horizontal bar final when he went to his hands and knees after landing.
“Taking part in Paris is certainly a heaven-sent opportunity to me,” Su said post-event with tears in his eyes. “I failed to grasp it.”


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Chinese gymnast Su Weide falls during the horizontal bars final at the Paris Olympics. Photo: Reuters

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Gymnast whose stumbles at Paris Olympics cost his teammates a gold medal will defend China Games floor exercise title he won in 2021


Gymnast whose stumbles at Paris Olympics cost his teammates a gold medal will defend China Games floor exercise title he won in 2021.


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National Games: Su Weide, Chinese gymnastics’ fallen figure, hopes for redemption

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.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Early Life

Gymnast whose stumbles at Paris Olympics cost his teammates a gold medal will defend China Games floor exercise title he won in 2021

Early Life