An interview with Gong Lijiao, Tokyo’s gold medalist in weight throwing, sparked a lot of controversy and sparked a debate about the role of women and the impact of feminism in China.
Returned to China with a gold medal, achieved last Sunday, as a result of her triumph in the women’s putting-out final at the Olympic Games, Chinese Gong Lijiao was discriminated this Friday in an interview on Chinese national television.
The Olympic champion, initially introduced by journalist Lu You as “looking like a man” – to which she replied that “she may look like a man on the outside, but inside she’s a girl” – was asked what plans she has for a “woman’s life” .
“Maybe I’ll look at my plans. If I don’t train then maybe lose weight, get married and have kids. Yes, it’s the path we should take in life,” subtly said Gong Lijiao, who set a personal record in Tokyo, to throw 20.58 meters.
This inconvenient question, given that the Chinese athlete was present in the studio due to her performance at the Olympic Games, was followed by several more personal ones: “Since you needed to be more masculine for the competition, you feel that you can be whoever you want from the start from now?” asked another journalist.
Afterwards, journalist Lu You questioned the athlete about whether she had a boyfriend, what kind of man she liked to have a relationship with and if she was able to play an ‘arm of iron’ with him. “I don’t do an iron fist. I’m very kind,” replied Gong Lijiao.
The approach taken by the Chinese national television reporter in the interview with the Olympic putt champion has sparked controversy and sparked a debate about the role of women and the impact of feminism in China.
Discriminated by her strong physical appearance, Gong Lijiao won, in Tokyo, her first career gold medal. In Beijing’2008, he was bronze and silver in London’2012.
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