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| - Misleading: Images of Chinese gymnast Su do not show him snubbed by teammates
An image of Chinese gymnast Su Weide, who fell from the horizontal bar twice in the Men’s Gymnastics Team Final in the Paris Olympics, started circulating widely online on July 31, a few hours after the competition ended with China losing the gold medal to Japan.
In the image, two gymnasts in white Chinese team jackets, Xiao Ruoteng and Zou Jingyuan, sit next to each other in the stadium, while Su, in a red gymnastic outfit, is seated on the far side and a few seats away from his teammates.
China was in the lead before Su lost his grip twice and Xiao landed on his knees. The Japanese team beat the Chinese gymnasts by 0.532 points and won the gold medal.
News.com.au included the viral image in the news story and described Su as being “deserted” by teammates in the headline. A post on X said in Chinese, “They refused to sit with him, leaving him alone in a corner.”
The image was shared with similar claims on X and other platforms like Facebook. The most viral tweet received over 59,000 likes, 1,000 comments, and 600 shares. Two other pictures shot from different angles also appeared on X, showing Su sitting alone.
Annie Lab looked into the YouTube recording of the Game uploaded by Hong Kong’s HOY TV. While the members of the Chinese gymnastics team were visibly devastated, the claims are misleading.
These images only show a single moment. The live stream screenshot was taken about one minute after the gymnast next to Su left to prepare for his routine. Su was not left alone by his teammates for the rest of the video.
Video analysis of key moments
When Su falls from the bar for the first and second time, his teammate Zou is seen covering his head with his hands.
At 2:32:35, after finishing his sequence, Su walks down and slaps palms with two of his teammates standing to greet him. Su then proceeds to slap palms with others, including the rest of his teammates, two coaches and a Japanese athlete.
When Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto takes the stage (2:35:27 and 2:36:09), Zhang Boheng, the leader of the Chinese men’s team, is seen sitting next to him.
When Hashimoto is about to make the final move (2:36:31), Zhang leaves his seat to prepare for his turn. The timecodes are edited into the video below.
Around 30 seconds later, Zhang approaches the stage and shakes hands with Hashimoto after the Japanese completes the routine.
The viral screenshot taken from the live broadcast, showing Su sitting by himself away from the rest, is seen at 2:37:19, during Zhang’s horizontal bar routine on stage. After finishing his routine, Zhang is greeted by his teammates and fellow gymnasts.
He then walks towards Su and pats his back (2:41:01).
After that he poses in front of a photographer, wrapping his arms around Su and giving Su a thumbs up (2:41:17). He also gives another pat on Su’s chest.
Less than half a minute later (2:41:29), while athletes are waiting for the score of Zhang’s routine as well as the final score for the team’s final, three Chinese athletes, Zou, Liu Yang and Xiao, call Zhang and Su for a group hug.
Xiao and another unidentified male voice, possibly standing next to the camera, can be heard saying “沒事 (It’s okay)” in Mandarin to Su (2:41:34).
Then, teammates hug each other (2:41:45).
A few seconds later, Liu pats him on the shoulder.
Annie Lab also identified the origin of another image used in the claim through a Google reverse image search.
It was taken by photographer Tim Clayton for Getty Images. The news photo shows the moment the Japanese team was declared the winner.
Although the broadcast recording of the event does not show the same angle, Clayton’s photo must have been taken within 14 seconds after Su sat down on the bench (2:43:20).
In the video, Xiao and Zhang appear to have been in the same positions at 2:43:34 as the photo depicts the two gymnasts, suggesting that it was taken during these 14 seconds.
At 2:43:40, Xiao stands up from the bench and appears to interact with Su. We created a graphic to show the comparison below:
The recorded broadcast shows the three team members in tears while leaving the stadium. Zhang offers comfort to two veterans, Xiao (2:47:02) and Zou (2:47:31), with Su quietly following them on their way out. During the medal ceremony, Liu placed his arm on Su’s shoulder.
The origin of the third picture remains unidentified, but it also depicts the same scene.
According to Xinhua News, the Chinese gymnastics team made a last-minute change to the line-up for the team final, replacing Sun Wei, who was injured two days earlier, with Su.
Faced with criticisms, 24-year-old Su later publicly apologized for upsetting everyone, South China Morning Post and CGTN reported.
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