Korea to take Olympic refereeing complaint to the very top

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Korea to take Olympic refereeing complaint to the very top

Hwang Dae-heon, left, overtakes two Chinese skaters during the men's 1000-meter semifinal at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Monday. [NEWS1]

Hwang Dae-heon, left, overtakes two Chinese skaters during the men's 1000-meter semifinal at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Monday. [NEWS1]

 
Korea will file an appeal with the top international sports tribunal after two Korean short track speed skaters were disqualified from the men's 1,000-meter race at the Beijing Olympics on Monday night. 
 
The Korean Sport and Olympic Committee announced Tuesday that it will appeal two controversial refereeing decisions with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland. The two penalties prevented Korean skaters from reaching the final in the men's 1,000 meters, allowing Chinese skaters to progress instead.
 
The same complaint was already lodged with the chief referee at the race, the International Skating Union (ISU) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
 
Short track speed skating, in which competitors race around a 111-meter (364-feet) track at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour, has long been Korea’s best winter sport, with a world-leading 24 Olympic gold medals to date.
 
Korea expected to win its first Olympic medals on Monday night, when both the women’s 500-meter and men’s 1,000-meter events were contested. Instead, world and Olympic record holder Hwang Dae-heon and Lee June-seo were both controversially disqualified from the men’s event.
 
Hwang crossed the finish line first in his heat but was disqualified for making an illegal late passing that caused contact, taking the world record holder out of the Games.
 
Lee finished his race in second, but, after a lengthy video review, was disqualified for a lane change that caused contact with Liu Shaoang of Hungary.
 
Both penalties were controversial, with Hwang in particular being penalized for an infraction despite also appearing to have been pushed by a Chinese skater during the race. The Chinese skater was not penalized.
 
The two penalties opened up spots in the final for Chinese skaters, repeating the story of the mixed team relay on Saturday. During that event, the United States and Russia were both disqualified from a semifinal, allowing the Chinese team to advance and ultimately win gold. 
 
In Monday's 1,000 meters, China went on to win gold and silver.
 
The two decisions, combined with Saturday's mixed team relay result, caused an uproar in Korea, where some fans feel that refereeing has been skewed to allow China to win on home ice.
 
“I have requested a meeting with IOC Chairman Thomas Bach,” Korea Skating Union President Yoon Hong-geun told reporters on Tuesday. “We plan on finding every possible way to properly file a protest with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. We are determined to prevent this from ever recurring in the future.”
 
Olympic sports are supervised by the respective international committees, who are also responsible for choosing all match officials. Short track speed skating events are organized by the ISU, which chooses referees that are then confirmed by the IOC. The Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee has no say over event referees.
 
The ISU has already dismissed Korea’s complaint.
 
The Hungarian Olympic team also filed its own complaint after Liu Shaolin Sandor was penalized in the final, allowing China’s Ren Ziwei to take the gold medal.
 
With Hwang and Lee disqualified, all four Korean skaters failed to reach the finals.
 
Choi Min-jeong crashed out of the women’s 500-meter quarterfinal, tripping on the ice with two laps left to go.  
 
Park Jang-hyuk, the third Korean competing in the men’s 1,000 meters, was forced out after Pietro Sighel of Italy crashed into him while trying to overtake. The crash left Park spinning across the ice, where Wu Dajing of China skated into his hand.
 
Park was carried off the ice on a stretcher and taken to hospital where he received 11 stitches. Despite advancing to the semifinals, Park had to pull out of the competition. He indicated on Tuesday that he still intends to compete when the men’s events resume on Wednesday.

BY JIM BULLEY AND YUN SO-HYANG [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]
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