Chinese coach of Hungarian team resigns after insult

Chinese netizens and sports commentators backed Zhang Jing, head coach of the Hungarian short track speed team, who resigned on Tuesday, after a Hungarian skater on her team insulted China on Instagram.

Zhang made her announcement through her personal WeChat account on Tuesday, saying she was extremely “astonished and outraged” over the insults at China from Hungarian Olympic champion Burjan Csaba. Zhang also demanded a public apology from the Hungarian Skating Federation.

According to reports and Burjan’s Instagram screenshots, the 25-yearold skater used the “F” word, after being annoyed by an hour-long process at the Shanghai Pudong International

Airport immigration inspection area on Monday.

The skater was planning to compete in the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Shanghai on Friday.

“Zhang’s decision should be respected. She is an excellent patriot,” Luo Le, a commentator and research fellow of sports studies at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

“Zhang probably felt she should be responsible for Burjan’s intolerable mistake, which provoked many Chinese,” Luo said. Burjan has been sent back to Hungary. He was banned from competing and has quit the Hungarian national team, Zhang told the Shanghai-based news site thepaper.cn on Tuesday.

Luo believes Burjan deserves a severe punishment. As a public figure who represents his country, he must be careful with his words and public image, Luo said.

Supported by the Chinese Skating Association, Zhang became coach of the Hungarian short track speed team in 2012 and led the team to more than 150 medals at world-class events, including a gold medal at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018.

Burjan was one of the team members that won the men’s 5,000-meter relay final. Hungarian ice-skating authorities did not make any public announcement as of press time, and neither did Burjan.

Zhang told thepaper.cn that the president of the Hungarian Skating Federation was expected to make a public explanation on Wednesday.