Taiwanese Athlete Wins Gold Amid Korean Ceremony, Then Loses Victory Due to the 'Same Mistake'

Korean Athlete Overtakes Amid Celebration at Asian Games
Same Situation at National Sports Festival... Narrowly Misses Victory by a Hair's Breadth

At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, a Taiwanese athlete who dramatically clinched victory by overtaking a leading Korean player during a celebration made the same mistake and lost the championship.

On the 14th, local Taiwanese media including Geumil Newspaper reported that Huang Yulin, the gold medalist at the Hangzhou Asian Games, participated in the men's 1000m roller skating event at the Taiwan National Sports Games held in Tainan, Taiwan the previous day and finished as the runner-up.

Hwang Wirin (left in the photo) is performing a celebration just before the end of the men's 1000m roller skate race at the Taiwan National Games held on the 13th (local time). Zhao Zijeng (right), who was running in second place, made a late comeback and won the race.

Huang Yulin’s loss after celebrating victory just before the finish line drew attention. He clenched both fists in joy right before crossing the finish line, savoring the moment of triumph. However, Zhao Zizheng, who was trailing behind, did not give up and stretched out his left foot to snatch a come-from-behind victory. The difference between first place (1 minute 27.202 seconds) and second place (1 minute 27.172 seconds) was only 0.03 seconds.

This situation mirrored Huang Yulin’s dramatic win at the Hangzhou Asian Games on the 2nd. In the 3000m relay event held on the 2nd, he created almost the exact same scenario and secured the gold medal.

In the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games 3000m relay race, Taiwan's Huang Yulin (left) overtakes South Korea's Jeong Cheol-won to cross the finish line.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

At that time, Jeong Cheol-won of Korea, who was leading, raised both arms in celebration just before the finish line, confident of victory. However, Huang Yulin, who was following behind, stretched out his left foot. The Korean team was certain of their win and began a Taegukgi flag celebration, but the official times showed Taiwan (4 minutes 5.692 seconds) had finished 0.01 seconds ahead of Korea (4 minutes 5.702 seconds).

The Korean athletes, forced to accept defeat, left the arena in tears, while Huang Yulin, who achieved a miraculous victory, expressed his joy, saying, "I wanted to show that I am still fighting."

He had considered withdrawing from the competition after being disqualified in the men's speed skating 100m sprint final the day before, but he pulled himself together and created the most memorable moment of the tournament. However, less than two weeks later, Huang Yulin repeated the same mistake against the opponent he had previously beaten, causing embarrassment. Jeong Cheol-won of Korea, who lost the gold medal due to a critical mistake at the Asian Games, posted an apology on his social network service (SNS) shortly after the event.