孙杨运动服事件：领奖台or广告牌 | Sun Yang's uniform choices cause debate
Sun Yang has made great success for himself and China so far at the Asian Games, however, there has also been some controversy concerning his choices of uniforms.
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The 26-year-old won another gold medal at the 800-meter freestyle on Monday, after powering to victory in the 200 m freestyle final on Sunday and completing the "golden grand slam" of 200, 400 and 1500 titles at the Asiad, world championships and Olympic Games.
Sun's choice of tracksuit on the podium on Sunday got social media chattering, after viewers noticed his yellow 361° brand outfit differed from the white ANTA uniform worn by teammate Ji Xinjie, the bronze medalist.
Sun has yet to respond, but changed to the ANTA uniform on the podium for the 800 m freestyle championship on Monday. However, he covered himself in a Chinese national flag, as well as a sticker of the Chinese national flag covering the ANTA logo on his chest.
ANTA is the official uniform supplier for Team China, while rival Chinese brand 361° is Sun's personal sponsor and an official partner of the Games.
"For sports, it is very important to obey the rules — and that includes the associated business rules," sports industry expert Wang Qi wrote on Weibo.
"While the whole Chinese delegation is wearing the white-and-red uniform of ANTA, only Sun Yang chose a yellow outfit by 361°. It appears to be a violation of the rules."
ANTA also waded into the argument, releasing the following statement: "As the official partner of the Chinese delegation and the Chinese Olympic Committee, ANTA designed the uniform for Chinese athletes on the podium.
"We believe that the Chinese delegation should react fairly to the violation of regulations."
Neither the Chinese delegation nor 361° have responded.
The 361° logo is ubiquitous in Jakarta, with the company providing volunteers, officials, journalists and torchbearers with all manner of equipment including shoes, shirts and backpacks.
ANTA has been Team China's official partner at the Olympics and Asiads since 2009; Sun has been contracted to 361° since 2011.
He is not the first Chinese athlete to face such a dilemma.
At last year's Chinese National Games, basketball players Zhou Qi and Guo Ailun were ordered to cover up a sponsor's shirt they were wearing underneath their Liaoning team uniform as they were presented with their gold medals by CBA chairman Yao Ming.
Badminton megastar Lin Dan also faced a similar conflict of interest after signing an endorsement deal with a rival of team sponsor Li Ning.
The mini-furor in Indonesia, however, couldn't detract from Sun's stunning grand slam feat.
"I've waited eight years for this title," he said after clocking in at 1 min 45.43 sec, finishing just over a second faster than of silver medalist Katsuhiro Matsumoto of Japan.
"It's a perfect result, a dream come true," Sun said. "It's unbelievable."
This is not a unique incident in the sport sectors.
Some players were fined around 0.47 million yuan ($68,535) because they drank the "wrong" drinks or wore the "wrong" socks during the 2018 World Cup in Russia this summer.
At the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, the US men's basketball champion team was asked to wear Reebok uniforms on the podium by the sponsor. However, half of the "Dream Team's" players, including Michael Jordan, were contracted to Nike. Thus, they chose to cover the logo with the US flag.
According to incomplete statistics, there were almost 200,000 sporting events held in China in 2016, and the number is still increasing. It is expected the scale of China's sports sector will reach five trillion yuan. The rising sports industry in China has already caught businesses and entrepreneurs' attention.
The sponsor problem indicates conflicts between the expanding market and present management models.
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