Beijing Olympics tainted by biased refereeing

Feb 09, 2022, 09:10 am

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China’s Ziwei Ren (right) uses his hands./ Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Jung Jae-ho

Criticism is growing over ambiguous refereeing against some of the country’s short track speed skaters at the Beijing Winter Olympics this week.

At every decisive moment, video reviews were in favor of China. In the men’s 1,000m semifinals on Monday, South Korea’s Hwang Dae-heon and Lee Jun-seo each got disqualified from their respective heats for illegal passing and lane change. Those decisions each allowed Chinese skaters to advance to the final, and China ended up winning gold and silver medals.

The rules are being ignored. Chinese players were not penalized for using their hands. China’s Ziwei Ren threw back his Hungarian opponent, Shaolin Sandor Liu, to finish ahead of him in the finals of the men’s 1,000m to win a gold medal. The International Skating Union (ISU), the international skating governing body, strictly regulates the use of hands by athletes in the short track competition. In the short track competitions, Chinese skaters are actively using their hands but judges are rarely restricting it. A video clip showing Chinese skater Fan Kexin flicking a marker placed on the ice rink into the skates of Canadian competitor Alyson Charles is rapidly going viral.

During the mixed team semifinals on Saturday, there was so-called the ‘blue-tooth touch’. The Chinese players, who did not touch for the relay, advanced to the final race after a video review despite coming in last in the race and even won the gold medal. The ISU stipulates those violations of the short track relay are “when there is no touch in the relay or when the judges find it unclear.”

An increasing number of foreign media outlets are also questioning the fairness of refereeing. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said that you never know the results of the race until video reviews are made, and introduced a Dutch player’s Instagram post, “We have three rules in short-track. #1: Do not get Covid. #2 Do not fall & #3: do not get a penalty.” Canada’s Yahoo Sports reported that China’s second penalty-aided speed skating gold caused confusion and more controversy. Australia’s 7News also reported that “doubts are growing” about favorable judging in the short-track race.

The controversy over favorable judging that started from the short track race is going against the Olympic spirit.

#Beijing Olympics #short track #refereeing #judges