China’s Extreme Fan Culture Makes Olympic Gold a Mixed Blessing

Ma Long, the captain of the Chinese men’s table tennis team, being greeted by fans at an airport after returning to Beijing on Monday. His team won gold at the Paris Olympics.A gold medalist diver’s mother said she was afraid for her daughter to come home after their hometown was swarmed with her supporters. A champion swimmer whose hotel was staked out by admirers disbanded his official fan group and told an interviewer he would rather have performed worse if it meant he would be left alone.

Other athletes have been hounded by crowds at airports or been the subjects of vicious arguments online between rival fan camps, leading Chinese official media to denounce fans for being “visibly…