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Widespread opposition has arisen against a proposal to honor two Olympic swimming champions by erecting statues of them in their hometown.

Sun Yang, 21, and Ye Shiwen, 16, both natives of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, were told on Friday that the statues would be put up in front of Hangzhou Stadium.

The idea for the project was conceived by the chief of the Hangzhou sports bureau, Zhao Rongfu.

In London, Sun won gold medals in the men's 400m and 1,500m freestyle races, came in second in the 200m freestyle race. He was also a member of China's 4x200m freestyle relay team that won a bronze medal. Ye stunned the world with her record-breaking victory in the women's 200m and 400m individual medley.

Hangzhou has built statues to honor top athletes in the past. Even so, the proposal this year has provoked widespread controversy.

Statues of Hangzhou-born champions in past Olympic and Paralympic Games now stand outside the stadium in the images of gymnast Lou Yun, swimmer Luo Xuejuan, shooter Wu Xiaoxuan and volleyball player Zheng Xiongying.

Confronted by the controversy, Zhao said in a recent interview that Sun and Ye deserve to be honored because they have become the pride of Hangzhou and China, and rank among the greatest of Hangzhou athletes.

"They are heroes in Hangzhou and having these statues could give residents a strong sense of pride," he said.

Zhao said an "avenue of stars" will eventually be constructed at the Hangzhou Olympic Center. Among its attractions will be hand and feet prints left by local stars.

Sun and Ye, meanwhile, are likely to get more than statues as rewards for their achievements. As often happens to Olympic champions, they will probably receive a large cash prize from the local government.

They have already received material rewards from local companies. Property developer Greentown China Holdings, for instance, announced it would give them each a house with a market value of about 3 million yuan ($472,000).

The explanation did little to appease critics of the statue proposal, both online and offline, many of whom said it is merely a way of letting officials brag about their achievements.

Guo Jieli, a college student in Hangzhou, said on Sunday that she doesn't support the project, saying it only shows the favor that is showered on elite sports while little is done to promote exercise among the public.

"It would be better to use the money to open more swimming centers that are open to the public for free than to build these statues," she said, adding that the city has an inadequate number of swimming pools.

Shu Guilin, a sports commentator at Shenzhen Economic Daily, also opposed the proposal, saying officials use Olympic champions merely as a means of trumpeting their own achievements.

"This results purely from the one-sided desires of the local governments," he said. "It's no more than a means of advertising their political achievements, and athletes are being made into props who are placed completely in (officials') power."

Liang Hongda, a TV commentator, called it "risky" to erect statues of people who are still alive and said the project might put the young champions under unusually heavy social pressure.

He noted that bronze statues of soccer players and officials were put up in Shenyang, Liaoning province, when China's national team made history by advancing to the 2002 World Cup. Pride turned to embarrassment several years later, when some of the players and officials who were honored were imprisoned in a national crackdown on illegal gambling.

Other critics expressed concerns that such projects waste public money, saying each of the bronze figures could cost from tens of thousands of yuan to millions of yuan.

Even the loved ones of athletes who are honored with statues have expressed reservations about the projects. After seeing news reports about Hangzhou's proposal, Ye's father, Ye Qingsong, said: "That's just too much."

To be sure, the proposal has supporters.

Zhu Yi, a 23-year-old student from Hangzhou, said on Sunday that there are no grounds for criticizing the government over the statues, saying they are the best way of letting others know about Hangzhou's greatness.

"It's a point of pride for us to leave these statues as a heritage and let our descendants know about the achievements of Hangzhou residents," he said.

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