Chinese Olympic Committee calls for proper behavior toward athletes from fans

BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) on Thursday called on fans to show respect to athletes' rights and avoid improper behavior toward them.

In a statement, the COC said that out of adoration for athletes, some individual fans exhibited extreme behaviors, including dragging and shoving in public areas such as airports, and that it brought about negative influence within society.

Expressing its gratitude to everyone's support and help in the development of the Chinese sporting cause, and fans' concern about Chinese athletes, the COC clarified its stance that fans should follow their idols in a reasonable manner.

"Everything starts from zero off the podium. After finishing their 14th National Games duties, those national team players will turn their attention to a new round of preparing for and participating in competitions after a short break," read the statement.

"We hope that everyone can show full understanding toward this, and while showing your care about athletes as always, you should respect athletes' rights, reasonably follow idols and avoid inappropriate behaviors toward them."

The COC showed its stalwart support to related departments' recent actions of regulating fandom activities so as to avoid the fandom's spread to the sports, and called on athletes to focus on training, pass on positive energy to the society and strive for winning more honors for the motherland.

The COC statement was made after a few fans showed inappropriate behavior toward athletes.

After winning six gold medals at the National Games, Olympic swimming champion Wang Shun was forced to receive a hat by a fan at the airport when he returned to Zhejiang Province, which aroused a little chaos on the site.

Prior to Wang's incident, table tennis star player Fan Zhendong was also pestered by some fans' improper actions.

When Fan departed to Shaanxi Province to take part in the National Games, some fanatic fans followed him along the way at the airport, and several security guards had to be deployed to clear a way so that Fan could move forward.

Fan, rarely using social platforms in daily life, had to resort to them to express his thoughts afterward.

"Constant squeezing and body contact has not only brought much trouble to me, but also triggered a lot of inconvenience to the airport staff and other passengers. Also, as the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, it is everyone's responsibility to keep a safe distance," he wrote.