Ye Zhaoying

Former Chinese badminton champion Ye Zhaoying revealed that she was forced to lose her semi-final at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

I was also not allowed to make Gong Zhichao tired and I was going to lose in two sets. "The only thought was to ensure the country’s success. But I’m just one person, and there was nothing I could do against the system.

Former World Champion Ye Zhaoying has claimed she was asked by the Chinese team management to lose her semi-final match at the 2000 Sydney Olympics on ...

The BWF President went on to mention that the federation needs to remain vigilant to eradicate corruption from the sport. They wanted me to lose in two sets, not in three sets, so that I wouldn’t tire her out too much. Meanwhile, revealing details about the incident after a period of 22 years, Zhaoying said the Chinese officials ordered her to lose the semi-final in order to fuel her fellow Chinese player Gong Zhichao’s pursuit of a gold medal.

Corruption at Olympics: Former Chinese badminton champion Ye Zhaoying claims she was forced to throw her semi-final at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 to ...

“Match manipulation of any kind is not tolerated in badminton. But at the same time, they wanted me not to tire Gong Zhichao too much,” Ye alleged on TV2. “You can go and watch (the match) again. I would purposely put points out of bounds, stuff like that, or make sure (the shuttlecock) did not go over the net. “They asked me to do this. Corruption at Olympics: Former World No.1 Ye Zhaoying says Chinese government ordered her to throw 2000 Olympics semi-final, says ‘They told me not to let it look like I was losing on purpose’

Former badminton world number one Ye Zhaoying has claimed that she was ordered to lose her women's singles semi-final against Chinese compatriot Gong ...

As a result, they were accused of wanting to lose in an attempt to manipulate the draw for the knockout stage and preserve energy. Ye has won several gold medals in her career including at the World Championships, Asian Championships, Uber Cup and Asian Games but was robbed of the chance to cap off her collection with Olympic gold. Ye felt she had no chance but to obey the order as she claims that if she had won the semi-final but lost in the decider then China would consider her to be a traitor. Ye lost 11-8, 11-8 in her semi-final to Gong, who went on to clinch her sole Olympic title with a 13-10, 11-3 win against Martin, who persuaded her to come forward and reveal the story. As Ye and top seed Gong were playing first, Chinese officials wanted the best chance of securing the gold medal and decided that the latter was most likely to beat Martin should the Dane reach the final. Ye had progressed to the tournament's final four while Denmark's Camilla Martin and Dai Yun, also of China, were due to meet in the second semi-final.