The Chinese social networks exploded in criticism after Gong Lijiao, recent winner of the Tokyo Olympics in shot put, was asked this Sunday by a reporter from the state television channel CCTV about his “masculine” appearance, report The New York Times. “Gon Lijiao makes her feel like a masculine woman,” said journalist Lu You.
During the interview, the reporter treated the athlete as a “tomboy”, tried to snoop into her life plans and was interested in knowing if she had a boyfriend and what would happen if she and her partner were to face each other in an ‘arm fight’. “It was a masculine woman, for good of your shot. But, in the future,can be yourself? “, the journalist pried.” If it doesn’t soften me later, maybe I will lose weight and then get married and have children. It is the way that one has to go through lifeGong replied.
The interview captured the attention of Weibo users and other platforms, who soon condemned the journalist’s position and stressed that the force should not be perceived only as a characteristic feature of the men. The discussion page dedicated to the athlete and the question, entitled “Is marriage the only thing we can discuss about women?”, Had this Thursday 300 million views and garnered more than 140,000 comments.
“While watching the Olympics, many viewers realized that the women cannot be defined [de manera simple]. We can be strong, powerful, competitive, brave. There is not a single quality that women cannot have “, date The South China Morning Post to blogger Luoyansu, who wrote a post called “Female athletes are all idols to women.”
Gong won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on August 1 by throwing a solid ball at a distance of 20.58 meters. Apart from that achievement, he has silver and bronze medals at the Olympics. from London and Beijing, in 2012 and 2008, respectively. In addition, it turned out triumphant in the same discipline at the 2017 and 2019 world championships.
