Former Olympic official being probed

Gou Zhongwen, a member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of the Committee on Ethnic and Religious Affairs, is undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory investigation, the country's top anti-graft watchdogs announced on Thursday.

Gou is suspected of serious violations of Party discipline and national laws, according to a statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Commission of Supervision.

Gou, 66, a native of Gansu province, started working in 1974 and joined the Party in 1976. He previously served as vice-mayor of Beijing, and was the head of the General Administration of Sport of China from 2016 until July 2022.

During his term at the administration, he also served as executive chairman of the Organizing Committee for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, concurrently serving as chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee.

He was appointed deputy director of the Committee on Ethnic and Religious Affairs of the CPPCC National Committee in August 2022. In March 2023, he was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC.

In an interview during the annual meeting of the National People's Congress in March 2019, when he was head of the sports administration, Gou made a public self-criticism over the poor performance of China's national soccer team.

He said Chinese soccer had been stagnating at a low level, indicating that its work was inadequate. He said the root causes were directly related to persistent issues within China's soccer management system, and acknowledged instances of formalism and the pursuit of quick success in the development of soccer, leading to widespread dissatisfaction.

Before being investigated, Gou attended a study symposium of the CPPCC National Committee on May 22.

In recent years, anti-corruption efforts in the sports sector have intensified, with at least a dozen officials being investigated.

Among them, Du Zhaocai, deputy head of the sports administration, was prosecuted in January this year. The cases of former Chinese men's soccer team head coach Li Tie and former Chinese Football Association vice-president Li Yuyi were heard in March this year, and they are awaiting sentencing.

In March, former CFA president Chen Xuyuan was sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes. Chen Yongliang, former executive deputy secretary-general of the CFA, was sentenced in March to 14 years in prison for accepting and giving bribes.

Ni Huizhong, former director of the sports administration's Winter Sports Management Center, was expelled from the Party and removed from his post for serious violations of Party discipline and national laws this month, and his case has been transferred to prosecuting authorities.