Olympic champ Wang expelled from national team
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China.org.cn, August 5, 2011
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Wang Meng's hands were injured during the drunken brawl. |
China's most decorated Winter Olympic athlete has been expelled from the national team for a drunken brawl with team manager, throwing the successful short track speed skating team into disarray.
"Wang Meng is expelled from the national team and is banned from international competitions as her conduct has violated the team's disciplines and jeopardized the sport's image," read a statement released late Thursday by China's General Administration of Sport.
Wang, who won three golds at the Vancouver Games last year, and one gold, a silver and a bronze at Turin, Italy, in 2006, had been suspended since the incident during a summer training camp in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao on July 24.
Wang Meng went out drinking and failed to return to the team hotel before a curfew, China's sports governing body said in a statement released late Thursday. When she was confronted by the team manager, she assaulted her, it said.
Also expelled was male speed skater Liu Xianwei, who was alleged to have stirred things up before the argument between Wang Meng and Wang Chunlu turned physical.
Other four to quit on their own will
The other four squad members — Zhou Yang, Liu Qiuhong, Han Jialiang and Liang Wenhao — were allowed to keep training with the national team.
Unfortunately, most of the unexpelled skaters, later alleged to quit the national team on their own will, saying that the general administration's decision to expel Wang Meng without any punishment to Wang Chunlu is unfair.
"I don't think Zhou Yang's quitting is a reasonable action after rational thoughts," Zhao Yinggang, the director of China's winter sports administrative center, commented. "As you know, Zhou is very close to Wang Meng."
Fiery temper
Famous for her fiery temper, Wang Meng, who was sent to hospital to get stitched up after smashing furniture in her dormitory following the brawl, was said to be visibly drunk at the time of the incident.
This is not the first time that Wang Meng has landed herself in trouble.
She was expelled from the national team for six months in 2007 after criticizing her coach's tactics at the Asian Winter Games.
Earlier in June this year, Wang again hit the headlines after she and her teammates clashed with security guards who accused them of making too much noise during a night out in the southwestern Chinese city of Lijiang.
Last year, Wang Meng beat tennis star Li Na -- winner of this year's French open -- to the title of the female athlete of the year.
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