Asian Insider

China's Olympics media coverage shows there is no room for losers

Gold medallist Eileen Gu of China poses for pictures on the podium on Feb 18, 2022. PHOTO: REUTERS
High achievers such as gold medallist Gu and child actor-turned-snowboarding champ Su Yiming (above) are celebrated. PHOTO: AFP
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BEIJING - If you were to consume only Chinese media this past fortnight, these three things would appear to be true about the Winter Olympics: Freestyle skier Eileen Gu is the only athlete that matters; China has no representatives in women's figure skating; and what doping scandal?

After pulling 100 million people out of poverty and nearly topping the medal table at the Summer Olympics (depending on which count you're using), the world's second-biggest economy is still somewhat a fragile superpower when it comes to sports.

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