Gold With a Side of Red

The International Olympic Committee is investigating why Chinese cyclists Bao Shanju and Zhong Tianshi wore lapel pins featuring China's late supreme leader Mao Zedong (1893-1976) when they appeared on the podium for their gold medal ceremony at the Tokyo Olympics. The images of Mao badges on Bao and Zhong, who won gold in the women's cycling team sprint, were swiftly censored by Chinese state media, but the incident highlighted the contrast between residual reverence in China for the Communist PRC's founder and his record of death and destruction. "Imagine a German athlete wearing a Hitler badge or a Russian athlete with a Stalin badge," quipped one exiled Chinese commentator.