Olympic champ-sports bureau feud stirs debate

China's athletics legend Liu Xiang is back in the spotlight in an unwanted way, with his open feud with Shanghai's sports authorities over his post-sports career arrangement triggering nationwide debate.

The controversy went viral on Chinese social media on Wednesday after Liu complained about the limited choices for his career development that his current employer, the Shanghai Sports Bureau, had recently presented him on Weibo, where the 2004 Olympic champion in men's 110-meter hurdles has over 2.6 million followers.

Since his retirement from the sport in 2015, Liu, as arguably one of China's most influential sporting icons alongside former NBA All-Star Yao Ming and retired tennis great Li Na, has lived a low-key life as a staff member affiliated to the sports bureau of his home city, yet without a clearly stated job title.

According to Liu's first post, the bureau had asked him to either accept a full-time coaching job on the municipal team, or voluntarily sign on a one-off settlement to leave the State-run sports system and seek future career opportunities elsewhere.

"I've run into a dilemma and look for advice, guys. A coach or a buyout, which should I choose?" the 43-year-old Shanghai native wrote in his post, alongside a photo of his memorable race bib from the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The sports bureau responded a few hours later in a statement, confirming that the two pathways — an arranged coaching or a buyout to be self-employed — are the only viable options "in strict compliance with national and municipal regulations governing retired athletes' resettlement", following a face-to-face conversation with Liu on Wednesday afternoon.

The bureau also recognized Liu as a landmark, meritorious contributor to the sports development of the city, and pledged to offer necessary support for Liu through further communication.

Liu, however, refused to accept the reasoning, hitting back with further revelations on the potential lack of transparency in the distribution of his career earnings from sponsorship and advertising deals over the years.

"In compliance with what rules, exactly?" Liu asked in an immediate response on Weibo to the bureau's statement.

"Now that you decide to give me a 'proper resettlement', according to relevant rules, how did you not follow the rules when it came to distributing all the advertising revenues?"

According to talent management regulations within China's State-run sports system, the entire commercial revenue of an athlete, raised and developed on governmental funding, is subject to distribution by his or her affiliated governing bodies, with the majority share, up to around 65 percent, awarded to the athlete and the rest handed out to respective sports bureaus, coaching staff and training bases at municipal, provincial and national levels.

As the first Asia-born athlete to win an Olympic title in men's track events, Liu immediately joined the country's A-list sports celebrities after Athens 2004, with the total revenue of his endorsement deals over the past two decades reportedly worth 535 million yuan ($79.58 million).

Following his 2004 breakout, Liu carried on with the momentum to break the world record by clocking 12.88 seconds at a meet in Switzerland in 2006, before adding another major title by winning the 2007 world championships in Osaka, making him a larger-than-sports icon, who remains on endorsement deals with multiple sponsors, such as sportswear giant Nike, dairy brand Yili and carmaker IM Motors, as of today.

Neither Liu nor the Shanghai sports bureau had commented further on the revenue distribution dispute as of Thursday afternoon.

Liu explained his hesitation about becoming a coach in another late-night post on Wednesday, confessing that he's not experienced enough for such a role.

He also said it wasn't his intent to have stayed affiliated to the sports bureau for so long that he "wasn't allowed" to break away from the system early on.

The high-profile standoff has shed light on a broader issue concerning many Chinese athletes, who struggle to navigate through career transitions from being a full-time athlete funded by the government to exploring new career pathways after retiring from their respective sport.

Experts suggest that sports governing bodies at all levels should work more closely with educational authorities and career-planning consultancies to provide better education for athletes early on and help them expand their post-athletic career pathways with consistent and customized support.

"Liu for sure was not the first struggling to find a 'third' option, nor the last. But with the influence he has, hopefully, the debate would result in serious discussions for a better solution for future athletes," said Fu Zhenghao, an independent sports commentator.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn