Going for gold puts sports official in prison
Print Edition
A LEADING sports official has begun a 10-year prison sentence for accepting bribes to guarantee gold medals at the National Games.
Zhao Lei, deputy director of the State General Administration of Sports’ boxing and taekwondo center, accepted 300,000 yuan (US$50,000) from the sports bureau in central China’s Henan Province in 2009.
In his defense, Zhao told a court in Beijing that the money wasn’t a bribe but “sponsoring expenses” for his bid to join the executive committee of the World Taekwondo Federation. Zhao was elected in October 2009.
However, Han Shiying, head of the Henan sports bureau, told the court he had paid Zhao to ensure two gold medals for Henan athletes at the 11th National Games in 2009.
Han said Zhao had told a Henan sports official surnamed Li before the event that Henan would only be able to win one gold in taekwondo.
“I think he meant that Henan would only be given one gold medal,” Han told the court. “Winning two was our goal because we believed we could.”
Han and Li met Zhao in a hotel room in Beijing in April 2009 where they gave Zhao 200,000 yuan, asking him to help them “accomplish the goal of getting two gold medals in taekwondo at the games.”
Han said Zhao nodded at the request, took the money and left.
During the games, Zhao was given another 100,000 yuan after a Henan athlete won a taekwondo gold medal “which should have belonged to another province,” Han said.
Chang jianping, the center’s former director, told the court that Zhao was in charge of selecting referees for the National Games in 2009.
“The center’s arrangement of the matches and the referees, as well as opinions given by its officials, would have a certain influence on who got gold medals at such games,” Chang said.
In a taekwondo match, an athlete scores points according to the accuracy, legality, strength and effectiveness of hits, which means a certain degree of subjectivity on the part of referees.
Chang told the court the center had asked local sports bureaus to sponsor Zhao’s committee bid, but said receiving personal grants was strictly restricted.
Henan didn’t see the results it expected. The province won only one gold medal and one bronze in taekwondo.
In China, the performance of provincial athletes in the National Games is closely linked to the assessment and promotion of local sports officials.
Meanwhile, a medal at the games can almost ensure the winner a comfortable life after he or she retires from the sport. The event, originally set up to pick talented athletes for the Olympics, has now become a source of pride for authorities with some officials resorting to threats or bribes to secure a medal.
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