Apologize to Sotnikova?

By Lee Kyung-min

A petition is lodged on the Internet calling for an official apology to the figure skater gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova. She has been suffering from much uproar worldwide for her debatable performance at the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia.

On the website “Change.org,” the petition has been filed under the name of “Apologize to Adelina Sotnikova” which has garnered some 2,000 signatures.

Most of the signatures and comments are in Japanese and Russian.

Below are the excerpts from the petition:

“Our Russian girl won gold medal in the Figure Skating few days ago. Not only Russians, but experts from other countries agree that her program, her performance was really high level.

“She did a small mistake, but because of difficult jump, that was not a problem for earning scores.”

“High speed, high level - Adelina was perfect. Maybe her performance was not so feminine like Kim Yuna's. But Kim Yuna's performance was not so high level as she chose a simple program. Her speed also wasn't high.”

“It was absolutely clear who is fighting for a medal and who did not even try to show that she is interested in medals.”

“Yuna won her medal four years ago. This is another reason why Kim didn't get the medal. If you are watching figure skating not only once in four years, you should know that. Once you get the medal, it would be hard to get it next time.”

“And dear Koreans, Kim Yuna is not the only one who has talent and who should be a winner. There are a lot of talented girls. We understand that all of you love Kim Yuna. But open your eyes. Her program was simple, that's why she got silver medal.”

“We know how you can insult your own idols and celebrity, but how you dare insult our girl and her family? She is not Korean, so do not even try to say something about her. Shame on you, Korean netizens. Shame on you country, because you have no manners.”