Police in southern China have detained and fined a man accused of cyberbullying three-time Olympic champion Quan Hongchan, state media reported Friday.
The 19-year-old, who won gold at the 2021 Tokyo Games aged just 14 before winning two more gold medals in Paris in 2024, has become one of China’s most popular athletes.
But Quan has been regularly harassed online, with her weight frequently targeted in comments.
Police in Guangzhou’s Yuexiu district said the 31-year-old, surnamed Xu, “repeatedly made abusive remarks about an athlete from the Ersha Sports Training Center” on WeChat, which “caused bad influence”.
Xu is said to have formed a group called Splash Conquerors Alliance on the social messaging platform, and, among other things, had a rule that said, “no attacking other athletes (except Quan Hongchan)”.
According to state media, Xu repeatedly sent abusive words by changing his username to something like “Quan Fat Pig”.
