BEIJING, Nov 29 — Former Chinese gymnast Wu Liufang has sparked controversy after posting viral “thirst trap” videos on Douyin (China’s version of TikTok), which led to her account being partially banned on Sunday.
South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that Wu, 29, uploaded videos showing her dancing in short shorts, mini skirts, and stockings, which quickly amassed tens of thousands of likes.
However, the videos were eventually taken down for violating Douyin’s “community regulations.”
Olympic champion Guan Chenchen, 20, publicly criticised Wu’s “sexy” dancing videos, calling them disrespectful.
In a comment on Friday, Guan told Wu: “Sister, if you want to post thirst trap [videos], do it on your own, but don’t stain gymnastics. Your ‘positive energy’ is not needed.”
The SCMP report further stated that Wu responded by accusing Guan of having “sour grapes,” leading to a heated exchange of sarcastic remarks in the comments section.
Wu’s follower count skyrocketed from 55,000 to more than 250,000 after the verbal sparring.
In one comment, Guan sarcastically complimented Wu, saying, “Sister, you’re so amazing, I’m so envious, you won so many medals and your records are great, you are great! I need to be more like you.”
Wu fired back, saying, “You are even better! Wait until you lose some weight, and you can wear nice clothes and be beautiful.”
Guan won gold in the balance beam event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and retired from gymnastics in October 2022.
Wu, who retired in 2013, won gold in the asymmetric bars at the 2012 Asian Championships.
The fallout between the two former athletes gained massive attention on Chinese social media, with tens of millions of views on Weibo.
Opinions were divided on who was at fault, but many users expressed outrage over a video in which Wu danced while wearing China’s Paris Olympics tracksuit.
“You can post thirst trap [videos], but distance yourself from the national team,” one popular comment read.
Another user added: “As long as you’re not wearing China’s gymnastics clothes or the national team uniform, you can do whatever you want, but having CN on the uniforms in your videos is inappropriate and disrespectful.”
In a live stream on Sunday, Wu issued an apology to her fans over the incident, but the controversy continues to divide public opinion.
