A few days ago, many media said that table tennis was in danger of being expelled from the Olympic Games. This is by no means groundless for three reasons.
First, the Olympic Games has been carrying out a "slimming plan". The main measure is to cancel some internationally unpopular, unattractive and influential events from the Olympic Games. In this Olympic Games, men's baseball (the star player of Major League Baseball, who once represented the American team, was also the strong point of South Korea and Japan) and women's softball (also the strong point of the United States and Japan) unfortunately became the first victims and did not appear on the stage of the London Olympic Games. Because these two events are not active in most countries and regions, especially in Europe, the International Olympic Committee cancelled these two events. Women's boxing has been increased in this Olympic Games, and 36 players in three levels have been given places. In order not to expand, men's boxing was forced to reduce by one level, and 36 places were reserved for women's boxing. This is also the reason why China athlete Zou Shiming (Weibo) participated in the 48kg class competition in the last Olympic Games and participated in the 49kg class competition this time.
Second, China is the only table tennis player, winning four gold medals in the Olympic Games, which has affected the promotion of this sport to some extent. Don't say that westerners say that table tennis in China is envy and jealousy. In fact, when all the champions of any project are monopolized by a country for a long time, it is no different from industry monopoly. After a long time, will the people you play with still be interested? There is no supporting role, so we can only play a one-man show.
Third, China has exported a large number of table tennis players to the world. These players, originally from China, changed their nationality. In a year or two, they will represent all countries in the world series, thus making this sport a game for China. It is understood that Sweden, Denmark and other countries that actively fought against China in this sport in the past no longer invest a lot of money in this sport and their own players. In the long run, the popularity of table tennis will not accelerate, but the territory on the world map will become smaller and smaller.
An ITTF official said that now not only the Olympic Games, but also the World Championships have become China's own games. This has attracted the attention of the International Olympic Committee, which may discuss the cancellation of table tennis in the 2020 Olympic Games. There is also a saying that the next Rio Olympic Games, that is, 20 16, will cancel the men's and women's table tennis teams first, and the table tennis events will be completely cancelled by 2020.
Badminton also faces this danger. After winning the World Championships, China badminton swept all five gold medals in this Olympic Games. This in itself is enough to attract attention, not to mention the "fake fight" incident of badminton women's doubles in this Olympic Games. There is an important reason why the World Badminton Federation punishes athletes, that is, it does not want to be caught by the International Olympic Committee on this matter, so there is a good reason to expel badminton from the Olympic Games.
Regarding the punishment for "counterfeiting" athletes, the China Sports Delegation has a firm attitude, saying many times that it will always put the Olympic spirit first, but Li Yongbo, the head coach of the China Badminton Team, apologized superficially and was actually quite dissatisfied. He criticized the World Badminton Federation for its inability to protect its organization. If it was Li Yongbo's thinking, I'm afraid badminton has long since disappeared from the Olympic Games. You are a small badminton Federation and have no capital to compete with the International Olympic Committee.
(Reported by Volkswagen Daily in August 14)