New Zealand might have multiple gold medal winner Lisa Carrington but China has shooter Yang Qian – whose double Olympic gold medals have produced a giant rush on hair accessories in her homeland.
Qian won the first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics in the 10-metre air rifle and her second in the mixed 10m team event three days later – her feat causing a sensation in China, which has consistently led the United States on the medal table, the first time since 1992 that the US have been headed there.
But it is Yang's yellow duck-shaped barrette and carrot-shaped hair band that have caused another sensation suddenly becoming best sellers on major e-commerce platforms in China.
On July 24, searches for duck and carrot hairpins like Yang's soared by 4,237.37 per cent and 2,115.67 per cent respectively on Chinese e-commerce giant Taobao from a day earlier.
Chen Gengping, owner of a Taobao store, had been selling duck and carrot hairpins before Yang's success. After the shooter claimed her first gold medal, the product's price was set at 3.8 yuan (US59c) each, including shipment costs.
Chen's store sold 70,000 duck and carrot hairpins in three days, a dramatic increase from the previous monthly sale volume of 800 pieces.
Fuelled by booming online sales, wholesalers have recently been snapping up the duck and carrot hairpins in Yiwu, China's small commodities trade hub in eastern Zhejiang province.
Mao Xuxia, a hair accessory vendor in the city, said staff at her factory worked frantically to make the products as orders poured in – and she sold up to 100 of the duck and carrot hairpins a day before Yang Qian won her first gold medal but 10,000 pieces daily over the past few days
Meanwhile Chen has had to work until midnight in recent days as online orders surged: "My two customer service personnel were really busy and I recruited five more temporary staff to meet the soaring demand."