Top Search Terms on Chinese SNS: 'Hwang Daeheon Foul', 'Short Track Foul'
"Why Are Only Chinese Athletes Always Victimized?" Criticism of Korean Athletes
Domestic Controversy Over 'Biased Judging' Sparks Criticism of China
Chinese Athlete Accused of 'Block Pushing' Foul Allegation
Hwang Daeheon of the Korean short track speed skating national team overtaking in the men's 1000m semifinal heat 1 at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China, on the afternoon of the 7th, the third day of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics opening / Photo by Yonhap News
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Following the disqualification of Hwang Daeheon (23, Gangwon Province Office) and Lee Junseo (22, Korea National Sport University) due to penalty rulings in the men's short track 1000m event at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Chinese netizens have reportedly continued to mock the Korean athletes. They claim that only Chinese athletes suffer due to fouls committed by Korean short track skaters.
On the 7th (local time), hashtags such as "Hwang Daeheon foul," "Wu Dajing (Chinese national team athlete got hit)," and "short track foul" were posted on China's social networking service (SNS) 'Weibo.' These hashtags have drawn explosive reactions, each recording between 4 million and 10 million views.
Wu Dajing competed in the men's short track 1000m quarterfinals held at the Beijing Capital Indoor Stadium. In this race, he collided with Park Janghyuk (23, Sports Toto), a member of the national team, and fell. As a result, Park injured his wrist, but Wu was awarded an advancement to the semifinals after a video review. In the subsequent semifinals, Wu advanced to the finals due to the disqualification of Korean national team skaters.
In response, Chinese netizens criticized the Korean national team athletes. On Weibo, heated comments appeared such as "Why do Korean athletes keep committing fouls?", "Our athletes are the ones getting hurt," and "The referee's decision was fair." Some posts included mocking phrases like "Korea has no skills and cannot compete without fouls."
Hashtags criticizing Hwang Daeheon’s foul have appeared among the top ranks on Chinese social networking services (SNS). / Photo by Weibo capture
Chinese sports media 'Sina Sports' posted an article about the short track final on Wave, raising suspicions by stating, "Netizens ask: Why do athletes always collide in short track races? And why is it always our athletes who get injured?"
Meanwhile, in the men's short track 1000m final held that day, Chinese athletes won gold and silver medals consecutively.
In the first semifinal heat before the final, Hwang Daeheon, ranked second in the world at 1000m, crossed the finish line first but was penalized and eliminated after a video review. The referees judged that Hwang committed a foul by changing lanes late.
In the second semifinal heat, Lee Junseo finished second but was also penalized for a foul after changing lanes while contacting Hungary's Liu Shaoang.
As the two national team athletes who qualified for the final were consecutively disqualified after video reviews, a controversy over "biased refereeing" erupted domestically. On major domestic SNS platforms such as Twitter, hashtags criticizing the Chinese referees' decisions, including "short track" and "you guys (China) only," flooded the feeds.
Controversial scene of Chinese women's national team player Pan Kexin during the match. She is seen pushing away the black blocks installed on the court. / Photo by Online Community Capture
The controversy over biased refereeing is not limited to Korea. In the women's short track 500m pre-quarterfinal heat 1, Chinese female national team member Fan Kexin was caught on camera pushing a black block installed on the track toward the leading skaters while running the last curve before the finish line.
Although proving intent is difficult, the block Fan pushed was directed toward the skate blade of Canada's Allison Scharl, who was in second place at the time. Scharl lost her balance and fell, and Fan also fell. After the race, the referees awarded an advancement to Scharl following a video review. However, Fan Kexin was not given any penalty.
Meanwhile, the Korean delegation plans to file a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding this biased refereeing controversy.
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee explained the background on the day, stating, "An emergency press conference for the team leader will be held at 10 a.m. on the 8th at the main media center," adding, "Considering the hard work and sweat of Korean athletes and the public's emotions over the heated biased refereeing domestically, we decided to file the complaint."
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