Three-time Olympic gold medallist has faced toxic online abuse and considered quitting over comments on her appearance.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 8 Apr 2026<\/span>8 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Chinese swimming authorities say they have \u2060launched an investigation \u2060into cyberbullying of diving champion Quan Hongchan, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, and reported the \u2060matter to police.<\/p>\n \u201cMalicious\u201d online attacks against Quan are being investigated by China\u2019s General Administration of Sport, the body said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Quan, who won her first gold at Tokyo 2020 at the age of 14 and two \u2060more at the following games in Paris 2024, has given several interviews in which she talked about toxic online commentary over her weight and the immense pressure she has \u200cfelt to diet even though she was already eating very little.<\/p>\n Now 19, Quan told Chinese magazine Renwu this year that she seriously considered retiring after the Paris Olympics before deciding she wanted to keep going.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the Olympics I actually thought about retiring,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Quan said that she had been asked repeatedly about her weight.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring that time, not just within the team but also in public opinion outside, I saw people every day saying I was fat,\u201d Quan said.<\/p>\n \u201cRecently cyberbullying, malicious attacks and false information targeting Quan Hongchan and other divers has emerged online,\u201d the General Administration of Sport\u2019s swimming management centre said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cOur centre takes this very seriously and immediately launched verification and handling work,\u201d it said, adding that it was working with officials in the southern province of Guangdong, where Quan is from.<\/p>\n It added that it \u201cfirmly\u201d rejected \u201cabnormal\u201d fan culture.<\/p>\n Adulation towards China\u2019s athletes has included fans obsessing over their personal lives and cyberbullying opponents.<\/p>\n State media have called such behaviour \u201ctoxic fandom\u201d and Chinese authorities pledged to crack down on it.<\/p>\n Quan won gold at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021 when she was just 14. She won two more golds in Paris in 2024.<\/p>\n Now one of China\u2019s most popular athletes, crowds have descended on the teenager\u2019s hometown and mobbed her at hotels.<\/p>\n Quan\u2019s swimming club also said on Wednesday it had \u201creported the case\u201d to police.<\/p>\n \u201cAthletes are a valuable national asset,\u201d the Guangdong-based Ersha Sports Training Centre said on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cAny act of malicious slander, insult or spreading false information against athletes and their families has crossed the legal and moral line,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n Quan has seen her home village of Maihe, part of the southern city of Zhanjiang, become a tourist destination \u200csince her Olympic success.<\/p>\n Her life has been placed under a microscope, the state-backed Global Times said in an \u200cApril \u200ceditorial, criticising an \u201cunhealthy fan culture\u201d where admiration turns into criticism, even hostility.<\/p>\n Three-time Olympic gold medallist has faced toxic online abuse and considered quitting over comments on her appearance. Published On 8 Apr 20268 Apr 2026 Chinese swimming authorities say they have \u2060launched an investigation \u2060into cyberbullying of diving champion Quan Hongchan, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, and reported the \u2060matter to police. \u201cMalicious\u201d online attacks against […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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