'Stolen Olympic medals' infuriate Koreans, spur anti-China sentiment

Hwang Dae-heon of Korea goes past China's Ren Ziwei and Li Wenlong during the men's 1,000m semifinal 1 short track speedskating event at the Winter Olympics Capital Indoor Stadium on Monday. Newsis

Presidential candidates, citizens slam biased rulings, accusing China of undermining Olympic spirit

By Ko Dong-hwan

Many Koreans, including presidential candidates, have expressed anger after two of their national short track speedskaters were disqualified during the 2022 Beijing Olympics, calling the decision by referees "biased and unacceptable."

Criticism spewed out online after Hwang Dae-heon and Lee June-seo, who finished first and second, respectively, in different groups for the men's 1,000m semifinals at Capital Indoor Stadium on Monday, were disqualified. Hwang was penalized for making an illegal late pass causing contact and Lee for a lane change that caused contact. The rulings sent two Chinese athletes into the finals instead, and China ended up collecting gold and silver.

The rulings left many Koreans scratching their heads as they believe Hwang and Lee finished their heats without violating any regulations. Koreans' anti-China sentiment was especially strong because the rulings came after China's alleged appropriation of the Korean traditional dress known as hanbok during Friday's opening ceremony.

The "stolen Olympic medals" allegation has drawn bipartisan support for Korean athletes.

Presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said on Facebook on Monday night that he was "disappointed and irritated" over the rulings. He also wished Korean athletes would "not get discouraged by the incident."

DPK chairman Song Young-gil said on Facebook that he cannot sleep because of anger over the "biased and outlandish rulings." "People will now start believing that a host country will enjoy more than an advantage of winning medals more easily: the country will probably monopolize the medals."

Main opposition People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol said his heart goes out to the disheartened Korean skaters, saying he sympathized with them for their frustration.

When asked to comment on the anti-China sentiment among the Korean public, however, Yoon was cautious and noted that it is inappropriate for a presidential candidate like him to express such a sentiment toward a certain country.

Lawmakers from the DPK also joined in lambasting the Beijing Olympics. Rep. Park Joo-min said the Olympic organizers should be "ashamed of themselves for tarnishing the Olympics into a local Chinese event." The party's floor leader Kim Yong-min said the "biased rulings damaged the spirit of the Olympics as well as our athletes," while the party's lawmaker Jeon Yong-ki said Monday's race "betrayed our athletes' efforts" and condemned China for "not knowing what angered the rest of the world." Rep. Chun Jae-soo questioned whether China "is capable of hosting the Olympics if it allows such biased decisions" and the country "sold out the spirit of sports and the Olympics."

Lee June-seo of Korea, fourth from left, skates among other athletes during the men's 1,000m semifinal 2 short track speedskating event at the Winter Olympics Capital Indoor Stadium on Feb. 7. Newsis

The party's election camp issued a statement on Tuesday, comparing the controversial rulings to "the Bed of Procrustes," in which the Greek mythological figure abducted travelers and either stretched or chopped off their bodies to fit the length of his bed.

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"Sport is supposed to unite humanity and offer ingratiating moments of victory, but it has destroyed fairness and sportsmanship," the camp's spokesperson Park Gwang-on said. "Hwang and Lee were disqualified after proving their highest classes in performance and skill. The biased decisions angered not just Korea but also the rest of the world."

PPP lawmaker Ha Tae-keung said on Facebook the true winners of the controversial race are Hwang, Lee and Hungary's Liu Shaolin Sandor who finished first in the game's finals race but was also disqualified ― allowing Chinese athletes to win gold and silver. He said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) must be shut down if it cannot control unjust rulings and cheating in sports.

Rep. Kim Jae-seob of the party also said, "Illegal gambling, game manipulation and violence in sports are chronic problems in China's professional soccer league. If you find the cases of Hwang and Lee unfair, it was just one of those typical China-like examples."

Other presidential candidates also chimed in on the anti-China movement. Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party accused China of stealing Korea's medals.

"China must immediately cancel the dirty call and return Korea's gold medal," he wrote on Facebook, Tuesday, urging China to apologize to the athletes of Korea and the world. "As a presidential candidate of Korea, I strongly urge (China) to right the wrong call on its own," he said. "What China did was a very ugly act that ruined the spirit of sports and will not be able to win the support of anyone in the world."

Sim Sang-jung, another presidential candidate of the minor progressive Justice Party, issued a similar statement decrying the incident as a violation of the Olympic spirit.

"Amid the COVID-19 disaster, many people around the world are looking for hope in the Beijing Olympics," she wrote on Facebook. "More than any other Olympics, this Olympics will have to be fair."

The head of the Korean athletic delegation to the Beijing Olympics Yoon Hong-geun, center, speaks during a press conference at the Main Media Center in Beijing, Feb. 8, saying he has requested the International Skating Union and the International Olympic Committee to overturn the rulings on Hwang Dae-hoon and Lee June-seo. Newsis

Koreans' anger goes viral online

Korean national volleyball player Kim Yeon-koung, who plays for Shanghai in China's professional volleyball league, tweeted Monday expressing her anger over Hwang and Lee's disqualifications. RM from K-pop boy band BTS posted on Instagram a video clip of Hwang outpacing two Chinese skaters during his heat and put emojis of clapping hands and a thumb-up.

Other Koreans online also criticized the controversial decision, undercutting the value of the medals the Chinese won and urging Korean national players to boycott the Olympics. Some also took aim at the host nation, raising conspiracy theories that the IOC has probably rigged the Olympics in favor of China.

Korea lodged a protest with the International Skating Union (ISU), the international skating governing body, on Tuesday regarding Hwang's penalty. The ISU rejected it, citing Rule 123 of its General Regulations, arguing that decisions regarding disqualification for rule violations cannot be challenged.

Korea plans to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the top international sports tribunal.

Yoon Hong-geun, the head of the Korean athletic delegation to the Olympics, held a press conference in Beijing, Tuesday, and said he has requested a meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach over the controversial decisions. He said Ryu Seung-min, the IOC member and a former national table tennis player, and Lee Ki-heung, another IOC member and the president of the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee, helped him request the IOC to stress "the importance of the spirit of fair play and to help prevent the repetition of unjust officiating."

"In sports, fair play must be guaranteed," said Yoon, also the president of the Korea Skating Union. "We will take appropriate steps to make our appeal in due course. The final decisions may not be overturned, but we believe that our appeal will help address unfair refereeing in future competitions. We will take whatever measures necessary to make sure such injustices will never occur again in international sports."

Yoon said he had been asked by sports fans and politicians to pull the entire Korean team from the Olympics in protest, but he said it wouldn't be the best course of action at this juncture.

"We have a lot of Olympics still left here," Yoon said. "The best we can do now is to do everything we can to help our athletes compete. I'd like to ask for continued support from our fans."