Koreans Cry Foul Over Short Track Speed Skaters’ Disqualification At Winter Olympics; Say China Would “Do Anything To Win”
China took home the gold medal and Korean broadcaster SBS went on to air a special segment titled Top 10 Worst Moments Of Cheating By China, which has further fueled online anger.
We’re less than a week into the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and controversy is already brewing. The men’s 1000m short track speed skating event was thrust into the spotlight after Korean athletes Hwang Daeheon and Lee Juneseo were disqualified — unfairly, according to Korean netizens — from the semi-finals.
Both men were punished for coming into contact with other skaters — Daeheon because of an “illegal late pass” and Juneseo after a lane change.
Daeheon, who is ranked second in the world, was expected to bring home a gold medal after he set a new Olympic record for the event on Saturday.
The finals was made up of three Chinese athletes and two Hungarians, and China’s Ren Ziwei eventually went home with his first gold medal.
China's Li Wenlong (skater 94) & Korea's Hwang Daeheon (skater 52) during the semi-finals
Korean netizens say that the move was “unfair” and was “China’s way of ensuring that they win the gold medal”. They questioned how the Koreans were called out when “Chinese athletes were the ones who would do anything to win”.
Videos of Chinese skaters coming into contact with other skaters have since gone viral online. Korean broadcaster SBS even aired a special segment titled Top 10 Worst Moments Of Cheating By China, which has fueled the anger online even further.
Chinese netizens have fought back against the accusations, calling Koreans “sore losers” who should “go home and cry to their mothers instead”.
China's Ren Ziwei (skater 54) & Hungrary's Liu Shaolin Sandor
The Korean Sport and Olympic Committee has since declared that they are lodging appeals with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the International Olympic Committee, saying that they will “explore all available ways and means to ensure that such an unfair judgment will not be made again”.
Watch the men's 1000m short track speed skating semi-final here:
Catch all the action of the 2022 Winter Olympics on meWATCH, which includes nine dedicated channels and video highlights of the best of the Games.
Photos: SBS
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