Chinese athletes at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo have been photographed wearing pins with the image of Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong.
Chinese track cyclists Bao Shanju and Zhong Tianshi were photographed on Monday wearing pin badges of Mao at the medal ceremony after they won gold medals in the women’s team sprint event. During a Tuesday press conference, International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams said the committee is “looking into the matter.”
Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter generally bars athletes from displaying political symbols and messages in the Olympic village and during competition. The rule states, “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”
“We have contacted the Chinese Olympic Committee, asked them for a report about the situation and we are looking into the matter,” Adams said.
Mao came to power in 1949 after defeating China’s previous nationalist government. As China’s communist leader, Mao oversaw the “Great Leap Forward” which aimed to rapidly change China from a farming agrarian economy to a communist one. The effort outlawed private farm ownership and organized farming efforts into communes. The effort was marked by periods of famine in which scholars have estimated between 16.5 million and 45 million people starved to death.
Mao also oversaw the so-called “Cultural Revolution” which sought to seek out and eliminate “counter-revolutionary” elements accused of trying to subvert Mao and China’s communist governance. Scholars have estimated the “Cultural Revolution” resulted in further deaths ranging anywhere from hundreds of thousands to 20 million.
The display of the Mao pins by the Chinese athletes comes as the IOC has also been asked to consider taking the 2022 Winter Olympic games out of Beijing over China’s alleged detainment of around 1.8 million ethnic minority Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The U.S. has accused China of committing genocide against its Uyghur population with “coercive population control measures” including forced sterilizations, forced abortion, forced birth control, and the removal of children from their families.
Last week, the IOC said it had to “remain neutral” on the U.S. petition against the 2022 Beijing games. The IOC said, “Awarding the Olympic Games to a National Olympic Committee and a host does not mean that the IOC takes a position with regard to the political structure, social circumstances, or human rights standards in its country.”
Adams’ announcement of an investigation into the display of Mao pins by the two Chinese medalists came one day after the IOC announced it was investigating Olympian Raven Saunders for forming an X with her arms on the medal podium after winning the silver medal in the women’s shot-put event.
Adams’ announcement of an investigation into the display of Mao pins by the two Chinese medalists came one day after the IOC announced it was investigating Olympian Raven Saunders for forming an X with her arms on the medal podium after winning the silver medal in the women’s shot-put event.
CNN reported Saunders, who is a black, LGBTQ athlete, said her crossed arms represented “the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet.”
