Lessons learned from shameful chapter in nation's sporting history

COACHED BY Ma Junren, the women's long-distance running team from Northeastern China's Liaoning province won many medals in the early 1990s and then quickly faded in 1993 for untold reasons. Writer Zhao Yu wrote a book about it years later but was forced to delete a chapter about Ma forcing his athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs; now the chapter has finally been published. Beijing News asks who forced the chapter to be deleted:

As soon as Ma's team faded, there were questions, because that incident "coincided" with the International Association of Athletics Federations strengthening its drugs test regime.

Yet those daring to question Ma and his team were put under high pressure by the authorities. The writer Zhao is a typical example. Worse, various levels of media outlets backed up Ma by defending his lies. In a Spring Festival Gala at the time, probably the most influential TV program then, they even broadcast a skit claiming "doping is nonsense".