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Thank-you speech attracts brickbats

PARENTS of a Chinese Olympic champion speed skater said they will teach their daughter how to make speeches after sports official criticized her for thanking her mother before her motherland.

Zhou Yang, an 18-year-old short-track speed skater, told reporters that the gold medal could make a big change in her parents' lives after she won the 1,500 meters in Vancouver's Winter Olympics last month. Zhou's parents were both unemployed and earned money by knitting sweaters.

But Yu Zaiqing, a deputy director of the General Sports Bureau, said on Sunday that athletes should always remember the debt they owed their country and should thank their motherland first when winning.

Yu's colleague Gao Jian said Yu was not directly criticizing Zhou Yang, but was trying to promote moral education among sporting competitors, Gao told China News Service today.

But Zhou yesterday told a news Website that she should first thank her country for giving her such a good training environment. Her mother Wang Shuying said her daughter was still too young to know how to make good speeches and should not be punished for that.

Many Netizens said they supported her plain speech and felt pity for criticism of her honesty.



 

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