Beijing police detained a woman this week for posting "defamatory comments" about Chinese athletes and coaches on social media after the women's table tennis final at the Paris Olympics.
The Chinese state newspaper Global Times said that the arrest took place on Tuesday after the Beijing Public Security Bureau received complaints about a post made by the 29-year-old woman, surnamed He.
The Chinese capital's security forces did not disclose the content of the post, which was made on the social network Weibo, the equivalent of the X network (formerly Twitter), which is blocked in China, but said that it was considered harmful.
The police said in a statement that the case remains under investigation.
On Saturday, China's Chen Meng beat compatriot Sun Yingsha 4-2 in the women's table tennis final at Paris2024, in a replay of the Tokyo2020 singles final.
During the match, many Chinese fans in the French capital showed their favouritism towards Sun and booed Chen whenever she scored points.
On the Weibo network, some internet users expressed the wish that Chen would fail an anti-doping test so that the victory would go to Sun.
Chinese state media had warned of what they described as inappropriate behaviour by some Paris2024 spectators and internet users.
The authorities have launched a campaign against more than 800 Chinese social media accounts that promoted "negativity and conflict" during table tennis matches.
The campaign is part of the Chinese government's efforts against the "toxic celebrity culture", which often leads internet users to aggressively defend idols against alleged attacks from followers of rivals.
In recent years, Beijing has taken measures such as banning the creation of celebrity rankings or disbanding some very active fan clubs on Chinese social networks.
"Fan culture not only affects the training and competitiveness of Chinese athletes, but also seriously affects the reputation of Chinese sport," the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported this week.
A group of 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive at the beginning of 2021, before Tokyo 2020, for trimetazidine, a banned substance that improves blood circulation, but the Chinese Anti-Doping Agency dropped the case on the grounds that there had been "environmental contamination of innocent athletes" during meals at a hotel.
The case was only made public by German television ARD and the New York Times.
An independent prosecutor's report concluded in July that the World Anti-Doping Agency "did not favour" China in this case.
