Key words: Gold medal controversy; China's economic growth; green tea urine test

A Chinese weightlifter's three failed snatch attempts received widespread coverage in mass media on Tuesday, again triggering a debate about China's State-run sporting system and how the public should view the athletes' efforts.

Some media outlets, including the Kunming City Times (Dushi Shibao) had previously named the performance of 17-year-old Zhou Jun a humiliation, which soon caused an outcry among the public who demanded respect be shown for the athletes no matter they had garnered a medal or not. The paper on Tuesday published a letter to apologize to Zhou, calling her a heroine who did her utmost.

The Global Times analyzed the public's changing opinion on gold medals. "Failure is also met with more sympathy and acceptance," writes its editorial, believing it is a sign that the Chinese society is maturing.

After winning the silver in the men's weightlifting 56-kilogram event, Wu Jingbiao cried and apologized to his country for "not getting the gold". The Party's official newspaper People's Daily commented in its special coverage of the Games that a gold medal is not the only thing that athletes gain from competition. Athletes are not only competing with each other, but also themselves, and that is where the true suspense and excitement is for spectators. It is narrow-minded to judge athletes only on medals and ignore the personal challenges they face.

Other media outlets questioned the selection procedure of Olympic athletes and believed Zhou's case exposes deep-rooted problems in China's sporting system and probably even corruption.

The burning question: why China decided to send inexperienced 17-year-old Zhou Jun to the women's 53-kilogram competition while there are apparently other more promising candidates?

According to reports, after Hubei Province weightlifter Tian Yuan was replaced by Hunan province-native Wang Mingjuan, Hubei was granted another slot on the squad to send one of its athletes. Although a competitor in the 58-kilogram category, Zhou was chosen for the spot.

China Youth Daily suggests other forces are at play. According to the paper, the system in place requires provincial sports departments to send their best athletes up to the national team based on past performance. However since departments and individuals stand to profit from seeing their athletes compete, collusion and corruption are showing their influence.

If Zhou's failure was purely connected with sports, the public would not have reacted so strongly, The Beijing News commented. But since something more than sports is at play, relative departments should offer up an explanation. No matter what the selection process, as long as it is transparent, fair and well-executed, it will be accepted by all. This lack of fairness not only harms athletes, but also violates the ethics of competitive sport.

Xinhua Daily Telegraph opines that today's society does not want underlying rules, but rather fairness, openness and justice. If ignored, more than Olympic gold medals will be at stake.

As a rising economy, China need not rely on gold medals it wins to bolster its confidence. But as China's GDP dipped to 7.8 percent during the first half of 2012 after three years at 8 percent, some have expressed worry about China's economic future.

However, People's Daily reports that China's economy is still experiencing moderate growth, which will continue through 2013. According to data published by the National Statistics Bureau, China's economic growth rate is high compared with many developed countries and other BRICS nations. More importantly, the Chinese government is well-versed in macro-economic control and will adopt flexible policies to address current and future difficulties.

China's media are abuzz on Monday with a recent investigative report about medical ethics which in the end stirs up discussions about journalistic ethics. In the report, a journalist used green tea to replace his sample in a urine test, the results of which claimed "he had an infection". Although the report revealed how hospitals cheat patients, the way the evidence was obtained has stirred controversy. 

Beijing Youth Daily opines that exposing the dark side of society is an important responsibility of media. However, media should be objective and scientific in the process, otherwise it will lose credibility in the eyes of the public.

Guangzhou Daily echoed, saying the journalist violated basic professional values. It argues the story is misleading and not only worsens the relationship between doctors and patients, but also fails in achieving media's basic social responsibility.

Today's Global Times (Chinese edition) comments that one of the core functions of the press is to monitor society, and in this era of lightning-speed social media, press journalists must be more thorough and discerning.