Wang Meng: Olympian booted from national team after drunken fight

Chinese short track speed skating Olympian, Wang Meng, was kicked off the national team Thursday (Aug. 4) after her involvement in a drunken brawl.

The ban occurred weeks after the July 24 incident in which the four-time Olympic gold medalist, and the country's most decorated winter athlete, was out drinking with teammates but failed to return to the hotel by curfew. When she was tracked down by team manager Wang Chunlu, the 26-year-old Wang Meng punched her according to a statement from China's General Administration of Sport.

The statement adds that Wang Meng "has violated the team's disciplines and jeopardized the sport's image."

The national team also banned fellow short track skater Olympian Liu Xianwei for his involvement in the fight. The other members involved in the fracas -- Han Jialiang, Liang Wenhao, Liu Qiuhong and Zhou Yang -- remain with the team.

The skater has been followed by controversy in recent years. In 2007, she was suspended from the team for six months after challenging her coach's tactics at the Asian Winter Games. In June 2011, she and a other team members got into a spat with police in Lijiang, Yunnan for singing and shouting in public after a night of drinking.

Wang Meng has been a staple of the Chinese short track team since first winning the World Junior Championships in 2002. During her career she's won 14 world titles and has broken or still owns multiple world records.