GB TEAM OFFERED CASH TO BACK BEIJING

TEAM GB stars are being offered more than £1,000 to post videos in support of next week’s Beijing Winter Olympics on social media. Sportsmail has been shown emails and texts sent from Chinese PR firms to the agents of some of Britain’s medal hopefuls asking if their athletes would publish pro-Beijing content for cash. One company was willing to pay $1,500 (£1,120) for an athlete to film themselves saying: ‘I support the Beijing Winter 2022 Olympics. The Beijing Olympics is an opportunity to promote values of peace, unity and mutual respect.’ No British athlete is understood to have taken up any offer. The revelations add more weight to claims of Chinese ‘sportswashing’.