As our social networking tools are developing fast, media
spread things immediately all over the internet, the internet has been a
platform for communication all over the world and it became crucial to our
daily life. Discussion boards, chat rooms, social networking sites such as the
popular Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, they create online spaces that people
browse and discuss and comment on whatever they want.
Good news transmits fast, so do rumours. How did the media
become a pressure to the atheletics? There is this well-known Chinese hurdler
Liu Xiang, he has been a target of attention as well as attack since the 2008
Olympic Games. As a Chinese nation of glory that he won a gold medal in 2004
Olympics, he himself has been a big attention throughout the country. The major
story started from his performance in 2008 Olympics that he was not able to
finish his 110m hurdle competition due to his legs injury. After months of
recovery, he started his hurdle again and has won awards in hurdle competitions.
And soon in 2012, people in China put extra ultimate expectation and support to
him but he fell down during the 110 hurdles first round after clipping
the first hurdle.
The story went like :
“More than 38 million messages have been posted
on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, with most critical of Liu and
suggesting that he had "cheated" the public and that he had
co-starred in a "world class farce" with CCTV.”
Where Sina Weibo can be
described as a Chinese Twitter that people put status on it that they can
repost and comment. 38 millions! 38 millions of critiques on an national athletic
after not winning anything from a competition and been commented that he was
acting to fall down during the competition? In a personal point of view, why
did athletics make themselves injured because they do not want to finish the
competition after million years of practices? How does it make sense to
everybody? Doesn’t he deserve respect rather than a situation like this that he
has to face millions of people’s attacks? Especially when it comes to the
internet platform, story could not be easily controlled because of its fast
speed of sharing and reposting stuff on everywhere.
Liu Xiang soon spoke to
the media after seeing such over raging condition on the internet by his own
nation. He said that he had really tried his best in the game that he tried to
start the game even he knew that he had foot problems at that time, he thought
he could do it. Unfortunately situation didn’t go like what he has expected.
And he described that ‘I felt like I was lashed by a whip."
When everyone on the
internet saying that Liu Xiang was cheating the public in his Olympics
performance, Liu Xiang claiming that he was really in pain with his foot injury
and wanted to try his best to finish the game. Who’s saying right, who’s saying
wrong. No one knows. But it has obviously been a big pressure to athletics that
they had to face such negative comments over the internet, BY THEIR OWN
NATIONS. Serious huh?
