A Chinese badminton player has apologised after she was heard repeatedly swearing during a match at the Tokyo Olympics.
Chen Qingchen, 24, was heard swearing loudly throughout her women’s doubles match against South Korea on Tuesday.
During the games, Chen repeatedly yelled the word “cao” which is the equivalent to “f**k” in Mandarin Chinese.
After her and her teammate, Jia Yifan lost the first game she let out a string of profanity.
She swore again during her second game yelling, “Wo cao! Awesome! Cao!”.
“Cao” she shouted again as she scored once more.
Chen went on to yell “cao” several more times before defeating the South Korean team Kim So-Yeong and Kong Hee-Yong and winning a ticket to the semi-finals.
“Wo Cao” is internet slang that loosely translates to “I f**k” in Mandarin.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) doesn’t have set rules about swearing during games and it’s not the first time an athlete has let a swear word slip.
British Swimmer Adam Peaty was caught using the f-word during a live interview after his gold medal win on Monday and Australian swimmer Kaylee McKeown apologised after dropping an f-bomb after winning her 100-metre backstroke on Tuesday.
While the IOC might not have rules about swearing, The Badminton World Federation does. Its code of conduct states athletes shouldn’t use words commonly known and understood to be indecent or profane.
In a statement on Tuesday, Chen apologised saying she was giving herself encouragement and it was a “misunderstanding”.
“I was giving myself encouragement for scoring. I didn’t expect that my bad pronunciation probably caused misunderstanding for everyone.
“I’m getting nervous. Thank you for your support. I will also adjust my pronunciation.”
Chen didn’t reveal what she meant to say instead.
Despite the apology, people seemed to love Chen’s outburst with videos of her swearing being widely shared on social media.
