Olympic champion Sun Yang to have a crush on showbiz?

HANGZHOU - From Olympic champion to Showbiz? Sun Yang becomes the topic of the Chinese media and butt of netizens as he was said to be contracted to a local showbiz company.

File photo of Sun Yang

"I will officially join in Handing Yuyou Media Group," Sun said in a VCR shown at a press conference in Hangzhou, China's Zhejiang province, on Monday as he was training in the United States for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio.

"Sun Yang is hopeful to win gold medals for the Chinese delegation in Rio Olympics. We're not going to overcommercialize him. We promise that Sun will only attend commercial activities on the condition that he has a good rest and training," said the general manager of the company.

"Sun Yang will not show up for any TV show prior to the Olympic Games," said Zhang Yadong through Weibo on Tuesday, a Chinese version of Twitter, who has been training Sun at least from the Kazan worlds, the Incheon Asiad, and will still guide Sun to the Rio Olympics.

At the press conference on Monday, the Handing Yuyou Media Group, an entertainment company in the rich province announced that they have signed a contract with Olympic champion Sun in early April, and Sun has became their first contracted entertainer for Reality TV Show.

A poll conducted by the famous Chinese website Sina.com showed that 33.9% people voted against Sun to be a contracted entertainer and 11.8% thought he was crazy. "Without good performance in swimming pool, Sun's fame will run out soon," said a netizen.

As one of the sports icons in China, Sun, who was born in December, 1991, is nowadays widely considered as the most popular star in the country after the retirement of NBA star Yao Ming and woman tennis player Li Na.

Four months ago, Sun sustained an injury to his right foot during training in Australia. During the period of his rehabilitation back home, he was invited to some Reality TV Shows where his showbiz talents were unveiled and being hunted by the showbiz circle.

Sun stole the limelight of the world when he broke the 10-year world record of men's 1,500m freestyle on July 31, 2011, and became the sweetheart of the local media and fans when he awarded China its first-ever men's Olympic gold medal from the pool by winning the 400m freestyle, and even added the second gold when he renewed his own world record to win the 1,500m freestyle at the London Games in 2012.