[Olympics] "Nun Tteugo Ko Beijing" Anti-China Sentiment Explodes... CAS Appeal After 18 Years

Disqualification of Hwang Daeheon and Lee Junseo Due to Biased Judging
Athletes Meet with Psychotherapist
Ice Skating Boycott Considered if Harassment Continues

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Korean delegation participating in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has taken out the card of filing a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding suspicions of biased judging in short track speed skating. Even during the controversial unfair judgment involving Kim Yuna at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, the option of filing with CAS was not pursued. The severity of the biased judgments at the Beijing Winter Olympics influenced a political decision that strong measures are necessary to prevent recurrence.

On the morning of the 8th, Yoon Hong-geun, the head of the delegation, held an emergency press conference at the Beijing Winter Olympics Main Media Center and announced plans to file a CAS complaint regarding the judgment in the men's 1000m short track semifinal. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee explained, "We will formalize the unfairness of this judgment and do our best to ensure that such unjust incidents never happen again to our athletes in the international skating and sports community."

On the afternoon of the 7th, in the men's 1000m semifinal, Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Province Office) and Lee Jun-seo (Korea National Sport University) finished first and second in their heat but were disqualified due to questionable judgments. The benefit of the disqualification went to the Chinese team. China won the gold (Ren Ziwei) and silver (Li Wenlong) medals in the final with similarly hard-to-accept judgments. Hungary’s Shaolin S?ndor Liu was the first to cross the finish line in the final, but the referees imposed two penalties and a yellow card, changing the rankings.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Before this tournament, Kwak Yoon-gi (Goyang City Office), the eldest member of the Korean short track team, had expressed caution, saying, "We must not even brush against the Chinese athletes." In reality, favorable judgments toward Chinese athletes have continued in short track, increasing the number of affected countries including Korea, the United States, and Hungary.

Concerns have grown that even with good performance, athletes can be eliminated based on referees' decisions, which is also affecting the performance of the Korean delegation. The shocked Korean team athletes met with a psychotherapist that morning. If the unfair judgments continue, they are even considering boycotting the competition in skating events.

Immediately after the race, the Korean delegation strongly protested to the short track referee chairman and sent protest letters to the International Skating Union (ISU) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). However, the ISU issued a statement that day rejecting the protests. The ISU explained, "There was a protest from the Korean team asking for the reason for Hwang Dae-heon's semifinal disqualification," and added, "Hwang Dae-heon received a penalty for a 'late lane change causing contact.'"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Korean delegation’s visit to CAS during the Olympics is the first in 18 years since the Yang Tae-young incident at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. Yang Tae-young scored 57.774 points in the men’s individual all-around gymnastics, but judges gave a 0.1 bonus instead of the 0.2 he deserved on the parallel bars, leading to an assessment that he was robbed of the gold medal. At that time, the International Gymnastics Federation acknowledged the judging error. The chief and technical judges were disciplined, but the judgment results were not overturned.

During the 2014 Kim Yuna incident, public anger was even greater, but it did not lead to a CAS complaint. CAS does not accept appeals based on judging errors caused by referee mistakes rather than match-fixing or bribery, so the practical benefit of filing was considered low. This CAS complaint reflects the unusually tense atmosphere within the Korean delegation. The public watching the Korean short track team’s situation via TV broadcasts have expressed anger across various online communities.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This controversy could serve as a catalyst not only for criticism of the Beijing Winter Olympics but also for stirring ‘anti-China sentiment.’ Even presidential candidates have pointed out the issue of biased short track judging, and the controversy is spreading into the political sphere.

A Korean Sport & Olympic Committee official said, "(The CAS complaint) is a measure considering our athletes who have worked hard with sweat and tears, as well as the national sentiment boiling over biased judgments domestically," adding, "We also made a comprehensive judgment on the unfair and non-transparent relationships with international federations and international referees."