It has been a few days since the Rio Olympic Games kicked off. The Chinese team has been striving hard to grab a gold medal, but there was discord at the field. When Chinese boxer Lü Bin had an overwhelming advantages over his Kenyan counterpart in the Men's Light Fly 49 kilograms preliminaries, the judges did not give him the win. Weightlifter Li Yajun unfortunately lost her gold medal as the judge ruled against her in the first lift for no clear reasons. Fencer Sun Yiwen didn't manage to win because of a controversial penalty.



In the Laser Radial class, defending champion Xu Lijia was disqualified from the second of two races. The China's women's gymnastics team was given scores much lower than what they deserved.



Outside the arena, the Rio Olympic Committee used the wrong national flag for China. When Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui and a Canadian shared bronze in the women's 100 meter backstroke, China's national flag was hung below the Canadian one. Australian swimmer Mack Horton accused his Chinese rival Sun Yang of being a "drug cheat."



All these have been viewed as hostility from Rio by Chinese netizens. Objectively speaking, the misjudgments at the sports field were very serious errors that can hardly be explained professionally. And the unfriendliness outside the field is even more absurd.



The Westerners boast of sticking to the rules and presumption of innocence. But Horton obviously ignored the rules of the International Swimming Federation about doping and made groundless accusations against Sun, which was applauded by some Western athletes and media.



We can deem these behaviors unfair, ill-disposed or even hostile. Netizens' fierce response is also understandable. But it is too far to say they are hostility from Rio or the West.



Fairness is a principle of competitive sports, but the reality tells a different story—unfairness is exactly part of the sport, which has been no strange to sports fans. There were plenty of complaints toward the judges at the press conference after the European football matches. At the semi-final of the European Championship in 2009, German footballer Michael Ballack even chased after the judge for a long distance to protest against unfair judgment. Such thing is prevalent in Olympic Games.



I firmly support athletes protesting unfair judgments and filing a complaint. But unfortunately this is part of sports and can happen to any athlete wherever they come from.



China's rise may trigger some hostility or even conspiracies directed against China, and the sports field can be no exception in this regard. But this happens in competitive sports and shouldn't bother us too much.



Surely we can be outraged at and protest against the unfair treatment at the Rio Olympic Games, but we can't fall into conspiracy theory and become victimized. We should look more at the friendly and bright side of Rio Olympic Games and show more kindness to the others.



Most importantly, we should turn the unfriendliness into motivation and supervision that make us better.



When we are even more successful in sports and have a bigger say in the international community, we will find that hostility, though unable to be eliminated, means little to us.



The author is a professor at the School of Marxism, South China University of Technology. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion