Hungary's Shaolin Sandor Liu (L) falls next to China's Ren Ziwei after crossing the finish line in the final A of the men's 1,000-meter short track speed skating event during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Capital Indoor Stadium on Feb. 7, 2022. (Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images)
February 9, 2022 Updated: February 10, 2022
China’s
quest for gold medals at
the Beijing Winter
Olympic Games has been one filled with drama.
Two out
of three gold medals so far have come from short track speed skating. Both wins
came about from post-race reviews in favor of China, sparking protest from
aggrieved parties, as well as accusations of referee favoritism for the host
country.
Over
the weekend, China came in last place during the mixed relay semifinals and
would have missed the final altogether. The Chinese players only advanced after
the United States and Russia, after finishing in second and third place
respectively during the semifinal, were disqualified for obstruction after a
lengthy official review, leaving the teams to unpack what had happened.
“The
call came to me on what I did,” said U.S. skater Ryan Pivirotto, who was
identified as being responsible for the infraction. A skating official said
Piviorotto had illegally crossed into the track from the infield while
preparing to tap on, blocking a Chinese skater.
“I
don’t even know really what I did, because there was no contact,” Piviorotto
said.
South
Korean speed skater Kwak Yoon-gy, who watched the race, said he found it
difficult to accept the call to penalize the two countries but leave China off
the hook.
“Looking
at the way China won the gold medal, I
felt bad that my younger teammates had to watch something like that,” the
32-year-old told Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency. “I thought to myself: ‘Is this
really what winning a gold medal is all about?’ Things all just felt very
hollow.”
Kwak
suggested that China had received favorable treatment as the host country.
“If it
had been any other country than China in that situation, I wondered if that
team would still have been allowed to reach the final like that?” he said,
noting that he was left with a sense of injustice. “I felt that could have been
us at the wrong end of all this. I thought about how upsetting and frustrating
it would have been if we’d been a part of that.”
‘This Is a Parody’
Outrage
and confusion have arisen amid accusations that the Winter Olympics host
country, China, has been gaining an advantage from rulings that have booted a spate
of top Olympic contenders out of the competition.
In the
mixed ski jumping event, five female skiers representing Austria, Japan,
Norway, and Germany were ousted on Feb. 8 for wearing suits that were deemed
loose-fitting and capable of giving them extra loft while in the air, even
though the suits had been cleared in earlier outings. The four countries had
claimed all 15 available medals in the event over the past four world
championships since 2013.
“This
is a parody, but I am not laughing,” Germany’s head of Nordic events Horst Huttel
said. “It is outrageous that this happens with the four biggest ski-jump
nations.”
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Drive
South
Korea was in an uproar after two of its racers were disqualified during the
men’s 1,000-meter short track semifinals on Feb. 7, an event where Chinese
athletes ultimately bagged gold and silver after a post-race review.
During
the semifinals, South Korea’s world record holder, Hwang Dae-heon, was the
first to cross the finish line. He was then knocked out with his
teammate—allowing Chinese skaters into the final—after referees determined that
they had made an “illegal late pass” and a lane change, both causing contact
with another player.
In the
finals, Hungary’s Shaolin Sandor Liu initially looked like the champion after
crossing the blue finish line just before Chinese contender Ren Ziwei. Video
footage shows that at one point, Ren appeared to stretch his arm over Liu’s
body, causing Liu to fall.
After a
video review, the referees gave the Hungarian skater two penalties, one for
“lane changing causing contact,” and a yellow card, handing the victory to Ren.
“I
don’t think there is any question or doubt. Everyone earned it,” Ren’s
compatriot Li Wenlong, who was promoted to second place, said of the
controversy.
Short
track teams from South Korea and Hungary lodged complaints with the International
Skating Union chief referee over the ruling. Both were rejected. The Union
said all disqualification decisions are final and that the chief referee stood
by his final decisions upon reviewing the incident once more.
For the
first time in 18 years, South Korea is taking the case to the top sports
adjudicating body, the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“We
will explore all available ways and means to ensure that such an unfair
judgment will not be made again,” Yoon Hong-geun, chairman of the Korea Skating
Union, said in a Feb. 8 televised press conference in Beijing.
He
noted that the home advantage had “partly worked” in China’s favor.
Indignant
South Korean sports officials and ordinary citizens have been calling for the
country to pull out of the Olympics and bring its athletes home.
“We had
so many phone calls coming in that we couldn’t sleep,” Yoon said, although he
believes that they’re “not in that stage yet.”
In an
apparent vent of anger, Seoul Shinmun, the country’s oldest daily newspaper,
published an article consisting solely of the line “Just let host country China
take away all the medals” repeated 10 times.
The
public sentiment in the country was strong enough that the local Chinese
Embassy broke its silence on Feb. 9. Describing the criticism as an attack on
the country, it accused South Korea’s politicians and media outlets of
“instigating anti-China sentiments” and “poisoning feelings between the two
country’s people.”
Ren
wasn’t the only Chinese athlete embroiled in controversy. In a separate speed
skating event, Chinese player Fan Kexin seemed to have pushed a lane marker
with her left hand into her Canadian opponent’s path, a slow-motion replay of
the incident shows. The Canadian short tracker, Alyson Charles, stepped on the
marker and spun out of control. Another Canadian skater was blamed for the fall
that eliminated her from the race.
Hwang
Dae-heon of Team South Korea celebrates winning the Gold medal during the Men’s
1,500-meter Final A on day five of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at
Capital Indoor Stadium on Feb. 09, 2022. (Elsa/Getty Images)
Things
took a turn on Feb. 9, as Hwang took gold for South Korea while Ren, who was
penalized for impeding, lost his hope of grabbing his third gold medal for
China.
“It was
the cleanest race and that was our strategy as well, to race the cleanest
race,” a glowing Hwang said at a press conference.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/beijing-olympic-judges-accused-of-favoritism-over-rulings-leading-to-gold-for-china_4268237.html
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