(Ecns.cn)--A former gold medalist says she will sue a beverage company over an allegedly fake gold can she received 19 years ago for her performance at the Barcelona Olympics, according to West China City Daily on Tuesday.
Jianlibao Group, a former industry giant in China's sports beverage market, found itself in trouble earlier this month when the so-called "gold" cans it had given as gifts to medalists at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics were found to be made of cheap materials instead of pure gold.
Zhuang Xiaoyan, who won gold in the women's 72kg judo category in Barcelona, now works as a teacher at the Liaoning Sports Institute. When she noticed the white dots and cracks on her can last summer she took it in for testing, only to find that it was only made of silver that had been gilded with gold.
"It is only worth 50 yuan," Zhuang was told by the Gemstone Testing Center of Liaoning Province.
The test revealed that the main element of the sample--which came from the exposed part of the can under the gold coating--was indeed silver, and that the can, weighing 164.488 grams, was merely coated with gold.
It was estimated to be worth about 11,000 yuan in 1992 (or about $2,000 under the exchange rate at the time) if it were actually pure gold, though several newspapers, including the Beijing Evening News and China Sports Daily, reported that year that the cans were worth 40,000 yuan each, according to China Daily.
"A can made of such material could in no way be worth 40,000 yuan, as claimed by the company at the time," China Daily quoted Zhuang.
Zhuang added that she wanted to solve the problem in private with the company, which had promised to compensate her by featuring her in their advertisements. However, the company did not contact her until November 4, when Zhuang called Chen Weijian, the personal assistant to the manager, and was informed that she would have to turn to the court for a solution.
"The whole thing isn't about money. We need an explanation," noted Zhuang, who later engaged a lawyer and urged Jianlibao to reveal the truth.
"The first thing we demand is that the company should ascertain the facts and give us the findings," Zhuang's attorney Lu Guang told China Daily in a phone interview. "We might take legal action if the company is identified to be responsible for the incident."
Jianlibao released a statement on November 16, apologizing for causing trouble for the champions and saying that it was conducting an internal investigation.
"The company is making efforts to check for clues and recreate the history. We will present the Olympic champions and the public with a clear answer after getting the preliminary results of the investigation," it told China Daily. "But the award was given a long time ago. Most people involved have left the company, and there is a serious lack of relevant information and clues. So the investigation process is slow."
Deng Qiao, former deputy manager and one of the founders of Jianlibao, revealed to the Guangdong-based Yangcheng Evening News that someone in the company might have conspired with outsiders to produce the fake gold cans.
Deng Qiao told wantchinatimes.com, the English news website of the Taiwan-based China Times News Group, that the company was not involved in the manufacture or delivery of the gold cans at all, and that the responsibility was handed to an advertising company.
"I did not see any of the gold cans. I only knew they were given as gifts when I saw the news," the website reported, quoting Deng.
There's a possibility that the real gold cans might have been stolen during transit and replaced with fake ones, added Deng. Yet he still considered a conspiracy between an insider and another company the most likely explanation.
Fan Baixiang, an experienced media representative and former vice president of Jianlibao in charge of advertising, added that senior managers might not have a connection to the flawed cans.
Deng also confirmed that Li Jinwei, founder and former chairman of Jianlibao, was the least likely culprit since he had never been short of money. Li is now behind bars on corruption charges, however.
It was Li's strategy to promote the products via the Olympic Games, which caused Jianlibao's sales volume to explode from 3.45 million yuan in 1984 to 1.2 billion yuan in 1992.
Jianlibao, established two decades ago, once reached an industrial production of more than 6 billion yuan, becoming the first domestic beverage brand name.
The firm's heyday came in the early 1990s when its drinks were best sellers, on par with Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Its Jianlibao brand of carbonated drinks was once known as "China Magic Water." It also developed juice, mineral water and tea brands in the following years, according to People's Daily.
Zhuang says she will sue the company later this year or early next year.
