Old photo of Chinese Olympian Gong Lijiao falsely linked to Paris Games

"Anyone can see that this is a Chinese man who won the gold for women's shot put at Paris," read the Korean-language claim shared on Facebook on August 6.

"They must be proud to have won gold through deception," the post went on to say.

The post featured a photo of veteran Chinese Olympic women's shot put champion Gong Lijiao.

She won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 after clinching bronze in Beijing and silver in London.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV faced backlash after the Tokyo Games for describing her as a "manly woman" and asking when she would get married and have children (archived link).

The false post surfaced before the 35-year-old was due to compete in the women's shot put event at the Paris Olympics on August 8 (archived link).

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Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on Facebook. Captured August 6.

The Games have been hit by a gender eligibility row over the participation of two boxers.

Taiwanese fighter Lin Yu-ting and Algeria's Imane Khelif were disqualified from the world championships last year by the International Boxing Association after reportedly failing gender eligibility tests.

But they were cleared to compete in the women's boxing at the Paris Games by the International Olympic Committee.

Similar claims were shared on Facebook here, here and here.

2020 Tokyo Olympics champion

A reverse image search on Google found the photo corresponded to a European Pressphoto Agency (EPA) picture captured at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, on August 1, 2021 (archived link).

"Gold medalist Lijiao Gong of China during the medal ceremony for the Women's shot put during the Athletics events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, 01 August 2021," the caption of the picture said.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the false post (left) and the EPA picture (right):

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Screenshot comparison between the false post (left) and the EPA picture (right)

The same photo was published in multiple international reports about the controversy surrounding CCTV's questions to the athlete, including by The Independent and the Korea Economic Daily (archived links here and here).

Gong is also seen in the photo holding up a gold medal from the Tokyo Olympics, which has a different design from the Paris Olympics (archived links here and here).

Below is a comparison of her medal (left, magnified by AFP) and the medal given out at the Paris Games (right):

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Comparison of the medal held up by Gong (left, magnified by AFP) and the medal given out at the Paris Games (right).

AFP has debunked other false claims related to the Paris Olympics here, here and here.