Former Chinese badminton champion Ye Zhaoying claims she was forced to voluntarily lose at the 2000 Sydney Olympics to boost her compatriots' chances of a gold medal in an interview broadcast Saturday by Danish television TV2.
Twenty-two years later, the former world number one, bronze medalist in Australia, says she was pushed by her management to lose her semi-final against Gong Zhichao so as not to "tire her too much" for the final. against Danish champion Camilla Martin.
“I could not oppose the system”
“They told me before the game that it shouldn't be too obvious.
I also didn't have to tire Gong Zhichao, I had to lose in straight sets, ”explains the player, who now lives in exile in Spain.
“If you watch the match again, I play at the start, but then I start to put the steering wheel voluntarily outside or in the net,” she explains in this interview with TV2.
The former player, in her accusations of a match-fixing in the middle of the Olympics, does not say precisely who in the Chinese coaching staff asked her to lose.
“We feel very powerless, because we are alone against the system.
The Olympics is almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for an athlete, so it's really sad.
But as an individual, I couldn't oppose the system,” she says.
Gong Zhichao, considered better placed to win gold, had effectively won the final by dominating Camilla Martin.
Badminton World Federation declines to comment
In a statement, the Badminton World Federation said it takes “accusations of this nature” “very seriously”.
"While the federation cannot comment on specific details related to this historic incident, no match-fixing of any kind is tolerated in badminton," said its president, Dane Thomas Lund, claiming to want to "protect the 'integrity of this sport' with 'very firm' measures against any arrangement.
The interview with the Chinese player was conducted in Malaga, Spain, where Ye Zhaoying lives in exile with her husband, former Chinese soccer star Hao Haidong.
The couple explains to TV2 that they have almost no hope of returning one day to China since the strong criticism leveled in June 2020 by the former footballer against the Chinese authorities.