Our National Day Parade has been postponed, travel has been halted in many countries, but believe it or not, the 2020 summer Olympic Games is currently taking place in Japan.
The competition has been full of drama, tears, and smiles.
There’s also been shouting. Lots of shouting.
This isn’t exactly an unusual thing; competitors in many sports often shout during games, whether in frustration or for joy.
However, in the eyes of South Korea’s badminton association, one Chinese player went a little too far.
China Badminton Player Apologises For Swearing During a Game, Swears Again in the Next Game
On 27 July, Chinese badminton player Chen Qingchen and her partner Jia Yifan went head to head against Korea’s Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong in a women’s doubles match.
Throughout the match, Chen was heard shouting “cao,” a Mandarin term which loosely translates to “f***”. According to The Korea Times, Chen repeated this word “relentlessly” after she and her partner lost the first set.
In the end, they came back to defeat the Koreans by two sets to one.
As there was no audience present during the games – to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19 – Chen’s swearing could be heard throughout.
After the match, she apologised for causing any offence, saying it was just a way to encourage herself after scoring.
“I didn’t expect my bad pronunciation to cause any misunderstandings for anyone. I will also adjust my pronunciation,” she said on her Weibo account. However, she didn’t clarify what she intended to say.
And just four days later, Chen was hearing shouting the same word in another match against the Koreans, this time in a semi-final.
China won the match once again, but ended up losing in the final to Indonesia’s Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahyu.
Korea Badminton Association Files Complaint Over Swearing
Displeased with Chen’s swearing, the Korean Badminton Association has filed a complaint with the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
A spokesperson for the association cited BWF’s code of conduct, which states that athletes should not use words “commonly known and understood in any language to be profane or indecent and uttered clearly and loudly enough to be heard by the umpire or spectators.”
The South Korean media has also criticised the Chinese shuttler, accusing her of unsporting behaviour.
Several other athletes have also been heard swearing during the Olympics, including Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown and British swimmer Adam Peaty, who dropped f-bombs after winning their individual races.
Chinese weightlifting gold medalist Shi Zhiyong was also heard using the same Mandarin expletive during his daily training routines, prompting some fans to make memes of him for social media.
What’s likely the case is that athletes have always been swearing at the Olympics, it’s just that we can hear them now because it’s not being covered up by the roar of spectators.
So, what do you think? Do you think swearing during a game is “unsporting”?
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Featured Image: Instagram (shi_tang)