China Is Accusing The US Of 'Sabotaging' The Olympics By Telling Athletes To Be Terrible

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games are set to begin on Friday, but the political games are already underway between China and the U.S.

China's foreign ministry has accused the U.S. of planning to disrupt the Beijing Olympics by paying athletes to underperform during the Games, just so the U.S. can supposedly criticize China and make the country look bad.

The accusations appear in the China Daily, one of the many news outlets controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

A story in the paper accuses Washington of plotting to cause disturbances at the Games by convincing athletes to perform poorly and protest loudly.

"Sources said the plan is to incite athletes from various countries to express their discontent toward China, play passively in competition and even refuse to take part," the article says, citing unnamed sources.

It also claims that the athletes would get paid for participating in the alleged plot and that the U.S. government would protect them.

China Daily did not publish any evidence to back up its claims, although it did suggest that the U.S. is "attempting to politicize the sports and maliciously disrupt and spoil the Beijing Winter Olympic Games."

The U.S. and several other Western countries have already announced a diplomatic boycott of the Games, although that won't prevent athletes from participating.

The boycotts are in response to several human rights violations by China, such as the silencing of tennis player Peng-Shuai's #MeToo case, and the persecution of Uighurs, a minority Muslim community in western China.

The U.S. embassy in Beijing says that Americans are not taking part in any kind of scheme to bring down the Beijing Olympics.

"We were not and are not coordinating a global campaign regarding participation at the Olympics," said a spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Beijing to Reuters. "U.S. athletes are entitled to express themselves freely in line with the spirit and charter of the Olympics, which includes advancing human rights," the spokesman said.

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry doubled down on the claim in a statement to Reuters. The spokesperson also condemned the States' alleged attempt to "buy off" athletes and said such efforts are "doomed to fail."

We'll see who wins more medals in a few weeks!