China Sentences Former Sports Chief to Death With Reprieve for Bribery

China sentenced its former top sports official, Gou Zhongwen, to death with a two-year reprieve on Monday for taking massive bribes, a sentence that will be commuted to life in prison without parole, capping the dramatic fall of the most powerful figure caught in a yearslong sports-sector corruption probe.

The Yancheng Intermediate People’s Court announced the verdict, making Gou, 68, only the fifth provincial or ministerial-level official to receive a sentence that effectively means he will die in prison. The court found that between 2009 and 2024, Gou abused his positions — including as vice mayor of Beijing and later as director of the General Administration of Sport — to illegally accept money and property worth more than 236 million yuan ($32.6 million).