a semi-final to team-mate Guan Jianhua at the World Table Tennis Championships. He Zhili refused and went on to win the women's singles final. Just one year later, she was left out of the Seoul Olympic team as punishment, even though she was rated number one in the world.

Infuriated by China's inability to let her play at her full capacity, He Zhili married a Japanese man, emigrated with him and joined Japan's national team. She had her revenge on her former coaches at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, knocking out Chinese heavyweights Qiao Hong, Chen Jing and Deng Yaping in a single day. He Zhili is regarded by many within China as a traitor to this day.

Zhou (far right, with Zhang Ning), meanwhile, who threw the badminton game in Athens on her coach's instructions, has since quit the Chinese team and moved to

Hong Kong under the Quality Migrant Scheme. She is hoping to qualify to represent Hong Kong in badminton at this year's Beijing games. (Under the terms of China's takeover of Hong Kong in 1997, the former British territory was allowed to retain its own delegations in certain international arenas, including the Olympics, on condition that they call themselves 'Hong Kong, China'.)

Despite Li Yongbo's claim that he was being patriotic, Chinese sports enthusiasts are maddened by the gruff coach's revelation, just when the Olympic host does not need any more negative PR. One of many similar postings on the popular Chinese web portal Sohu.com reads, "Shame on you, Li Yongbo. We don't need gold medals won in this kind of fashion to fuel our national pride."