By Vicky Suen
Nowhere reveals the crux of identity more profoundly than the fields of the Olympic Games. A comical episode occurred when the Hong Kong fencer, Edgar Cheung Ka-long scored a decisive point in the men’s foil individual gold medal match at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, marking Hong Kong’s victory over Italy’s Filippo Macchi. The bout was so intense that when the two fencers levelled at 14-14, both landed touches twice without scoring. Only on their third encounter, which required three stoppages of video reviews, did the referees decide to award Cheung the final point. Hong Kong was thrilled that their athlete had just made history as its first two-time Olympic champion and the third man in the world to retain an Olympic foil gold medal. Nevertheless, the Italian Fencing Federation lodged a complaint to the International Fencing Federation (FIE) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding the ‘unacceptable refereeing’. The Federation claimed that out of the two referees, Huang Hao-chich of Chinese Taipei and Suh Sangwon of South Korea, the latter should have been replaced as there must not be a ‘neighbouring referee’ assigned to a fencer.1 This sparked internet outrage, with supporters of each side flooded Cheung’s and Macchi’s social media with congratulations and insults. Italian comments alleged that Cheung had robbed Macchi of his medal, whereas Hong Kong supporters launched a culinary war by declaring they would celebrate with pineapple pizzas. Pizza Hut’s Hong Kong and Macao branch even took the dig further by offering free pineapple toppings. And this is where identity comes into play.
It is easy to label this episode as an instance of racial stereotyping and shallow generalizations. But what led to this conceptualization? How does it shape our perception of ethnic ‘others’?
And most importantly, why does it matter? The assumption that all Asians with geographical proximity share the same interests poses what Margaret Moore terms an “essentialist challenge”. This tendency to attribute a particular characteristic to all individuals within a group is problematic because cultures and nations are overlapping and fluid concepts. It leads to a reductive mindset that precludes critical analysis and individuality.2 On the other hand, pineapple pizza serves as a medium for Hong Kong supporters to belittle Italian identity in order to assert their own, as it represents a break from Italian traditions and authenticity.3 Vivienne Jabri explains this phenomenon as a process of self-categorization and self-imagery. Since identity is ‘fundamental to the survival…of the individual and the society’, individuals are inclined to self-categorize based on common norms and beliefs. Having established the ‘self’ identity, the group further consolidates its positive self-imagery for a sense of control and coherence. This generates a discourse of violence with social consequences, such as stereotyping and discrimination against others that do not share this commonality.4 In the case of the Hong Kong vs. Italy pizza war, although no physical violence occurred, the related discourse has nonetheless moved online.
The essentialist perception that all neighbouring Asian states share the same stance, along with the pineapple on pizza fights, reflects an identity discourse of “us vs. them” that can be shallow and ignorant. The apparent fact that Hong Kong competes on equal footing with South Korea and Taiwan proves no incentive for mutual assistance, just as the fact that Italian identity encompasses much more than the toppings on a pizza is negated. This discourse, based solely
on subjective assumptions about cultural identity, marginalizes nuances and fundamentally contravenes the Olympic spirit of global friendship and harmony. Fortunately, both athletes involved in the incident were able to avoid self-entitlement and demonstrated genuine sportsmanship; Macchi publicly showed respect for the referees and the results, while both he and Cheung congratulated each other on Instagram. This gesture of friendship, shared and recorded online, ensures that the clash of identity and nationalism remains a playful episode without overshadowing the hard work and achievements of Olympic athletes.
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Bibliography
1. BBC Bitesize, ‘Who Invented Pineapple on Pizza and Where Did It Originate From?’, July 2024.
2. Connolly, William E., ‘Identity and Difference in Global Politics’, in James Der Derian and Michael J. Shapiro (eds.), International/Intertextual Relations: Postmodern Reading of World Politics (Massacusetts, 1989), 323–42.
3. Giulio, Giacomo Emanuele Di, ‘Giochi Olimpici Parigi 2024 – “Arbitraggio inaccettabile”. La Federazione Italiana Scherma inoltra una protesta ufficiale per l’oro negato a Filippo Macchi’, Federscherma (blog), 29 July 2024. https://federscherma.it/giochi-olimpici-parigi-2024-arbitraggio-inaccettabile-la-federazione-italiana-scherma-inoltra-una-protesta-ufficiale-per-loro-negato-a-filippo-macchi/.
4. Jabri, Vivienne, Discourse on Violence: Conflict Analysis Reconsidered, (Manchester, 1996).
5. Moore, Margaret, ‘Liberal Nationalism and the Challenge of Essentialism’, in Gina Gustavsson and David Miller (eds.), Liberal Nationalism and Its Critics:Normative and Empirical Questions (Oxford, 2019), 188–202.
Identity Hunters 