S. Korea voices concerns about short track judging in meeting with int'l officials

BEIJING -- South Korean leaders at Beijing 2022 met virtually with senior international skating officials Wednesday to express their concerns about the state of refereeing in short track speed skating. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee said Lee Kee-heung, its president and a member of the International Olympic Committee, and Yoon Hong-geun, head of the athletic mission and of the Korea Skating Union, held a video conference behind closed doors with International Skating Union President

Feb. 9, 2022

Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan caught up in numbers game

BEIJING -- In figure skating today, it's the numbers game that people play. The current International Skating Union (ISU) judging system assigns points to technical elements in skaters' programs, such as jumps and spins. This is all designed to eliminate room for subjectivity in scoring, in response to some damaging judging scandals from the past. Perhaps in an unintended side effect of this shift, figure skating has become increasingly more about jumps and less about artistry and choreography.

Feb. 9, 2022

Figure skater poised for history; skeleton slider begins gold medal defense

Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan will try to make a piece of South Korean Olympic history Thursday when he takes the ice for the men's singles free skate at Beijing 2022. Cha finished Tuesday's short program in fourth place with 99.51 points, his new personal best. Shoma Uno of Japan, the reigning silver medalist, is in third at 105.90 points. Cha will be hard pressed to close that seemingly small gap. He will only attempt two quadruple jumps, while Uno has attempted four or five quad jumps in his f

Feb. 9, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Not content with two bronze medals, speed skater takes aim at gold in 2026

  BEIJING -- South Korean speed skater Kim Min-seok is his own toughest critic. He doesn‘t usually pat himself on the back. Not even winning a second straight Olympic bronze medal, as he did in Beijing on Tuesday, changed that. 　 　Kim earned bronze in the men’s 1,500m race of Beijing 2022 with a time of 1:44.24. Kjeld Nuis, who skated next to Kim in the 11th pair out of 14 at the National Speed Skating Oval, defended his gold medal with an Olympic record time of 1:43.21. Anothe

Feb. 8, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Speed skater Kim Min-seok wins men's 1,500m bronze for S. Korea's 1st medal in Beijing

BEIJING -- Speed skater Kim Min-seok brought South Korea its first medal of Beijing 2022 on Tuesday, grabbing bronze for his second consecutive Olympics. 　 　Kim finished the men‘s 1,500m race at the National Speed Skating Oval in 1:44.24, 1.03 seconds back of the champion, Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands. 　 　Another Dutch skater, Thomas Krol, took the silver medal in 1:43.55. 　 　At PyeongChang 2018, Kim also captured the bronze medal to become the first Asian to reach the Olympic podium in

Feb. 8, 2022

[Reporter’s Notebook] Korean Olympic committee press conference in Beijing a wasted chance

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee’s urgent press conference in Beijing, held to protest biased officiating, fell far short of the goal of raising the issue internationally, if that had been a goal at all. The committee conducted the press conference at the Beijing Olympics Main Media Center on Tuesday. The purpose was to announce its plan to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport concerning refereeing decisions that disqualified two of the country’s short tra

Feb. 8, 2022

S. Korea to file appeal with top sports tribunal for ‘unfair’ short track refereeing

South Korea is to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) concerning refereeing decisions that disqualified two of the country’s short track speedskaters at Beijing 2022 Monday night. Yoon Hong-geun, president of the Korea Skating Union and the head of South Korea’s athletic delegation, said Tuesday that the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) will appeal with the highest international sports tribunal to “publicize the unfairness” that resul

Feb. 8, 2022

Amid anger over Olympic short track, Victor An speaks out

Amid South Korean anger over “biased” refereeing toward Chinese competitors at short track speedskating races, a South Korean-born coach of the Chinese team spoke out. In a lengthy message posted on his Instagram in the wee hours of Tuesday, Victor An, who was Ahn Hyun-soo before becoming a naturalized Russian citizen in 2011, pleaded not to attack his family members for his choices and what’s happening in the ongoing Beijing Olympics. A six-time Olympic gold medalist, An j

Feb. 8, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] S. Korean official believes short trackers got shortchanged by referee

BEIJING -- The two South Korean short trackers who were penalized in their recent Olympic races in Beijing committed no violations that warranted disqualification, an international referee from the country said Tuesday, adding that the competition at Beijing 2022 has already been marred by bad officiating. Choi Yong-koo, a senior official on the South Korean short track team in Beijing and an International Skating Union (ISU) referee, made those remarks at a press conference held in light of th

Feb. 8, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] S. Korean netizens express outrage over controversial Beijing short track refereeing

Many South Koreans expressed outrage on Tuesday over what they perceived as egregious refereeing against some of the country's short track speed skaters at the Beijing Winter Olympics this week. In the men's 1,000m semifinals on Monday, South Korea's Hwang Dae-heon and Lee June-seo each got disqualified from their respective heats for illegal passing and lane change. Those decisions each allowed Chinese skaters to advance to the final, and the host country ended up collecting gold and silver me

Feb. 8, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Int'l skating body rejects S. Korean protest in short track race

BEIJING -- The international skating governing body has rejected a South Korean protest following the disqualification of its short track speed skater at Beijing 2022. The International Skating Union (ISU) said in a statement on Tuesday that decisions regarding disqualification for rule violations cannot be challenged. South Korea had filed its protest Monday after Hwang Dae-heon was penalized during his semifinal heat in the men's 1,000m race at Capital Indoor Stadium. He was called for what

Feb. 8, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Short trackers to make another push for 1st medal

BEIJING -- South Korea has been uncharacteristically shut out of short track speed skating medals after two days' worth of races at Beijing 2022. Its skaters will be hoping the third time will be the charm Wednesday, when the final for the men's 1,500m will take place. It will start with the quarterfinals for Hwang Dae-heon, Lee June-seo and Park Jang-hyuk, with the final set as the last race of the night. There will also be heats for the women's 1,000m and semifinals for the women's 3,000m re

Feb. 8, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] S. Korean men out early in men's 1,000m short track with injury, penalties

Three South Koreans were gone early from the men's 1,000m short track speed skating event at Beijing 2022 on Monday, with one suffering an injury in a collision and two others penalized for causing contact with other skaters. Hwang Dae-heon, the world record holder in the event, crossed the line first in his semifinal heat at Capital Indoor Stadium but was disqualified for making "an illegal late passing" that caused contact. Hwang was in the middle of the pack before moving out into

Feb. 8, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] S. Korea to appeal short track refereeing at top sports tribunal

BEIJING -- South Korea is taking its appeal of Olympic short track speed skating refereeing to the top international sports tribunal. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) announced Tuesday that it will file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to "publicize the unfairness" of officiating during short track races involving South Korean athletes at Beijing 2022 on Monday. "We will do our best to ensure our athletes won't be treated so unfairly in inte

Feb. 8, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Short tracker Choi Min-jeong eliminated in women's 500m quarterfinals

With a stunning late fall, South Korean short track speed skater Choi Min-jeong was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the women's 500m at Beijing 2022 on Monday, as the two-time Olympic champion has now gone 0-for-2 in her medal quest here. Choi finished fourth out of five skaters in her quarterfinal heat at Capital Indoor Stadium with a time of 1:04.939. The top two skaters from four quarterfinal heats and the two-fastest third-place skaters advanced to the semifinals. Choi was in second pla

Feb. 7, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] S. Korean short tracker cries foul over biased officiating in favor of China

As disappointed as he was that his team crashed out early in the mixed team relay in short track speed skating in Beijing over the weekend, South Korean short tracker Kwak Yoon-gy seemed even more upset that China won gold thanks to what he claimed was biased judging. In a scrum with South Korean reporters Sunday, a day after China won the inaugural Olympic gold in the mixed relay on home ice, Kwak said it was difficult to describe the mixed bag of feelings he had about China's path to the titl

Feb. 7, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] Alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho goes for historic gold

Alpine snowboarder Lee Sang-ho will try to make a new piece of South Korean Olympic history on Tuesday, when the men's parallel giant slalom event takes place at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Lee became the first South Korean snowboarder to win an Olympic medal four years ago, capturing silver in the parallel giant slalom on home soil at PyeongChang. As the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup overall points leader, Lee enters Beijing 2022 as a strong gold medal contender. The qualifica

Feb. 7, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] S. Korean speed skater Kim Bo-reum celebrates birthday in Beijing

South Korean speed skater Kim Bo-reum celebrated her 29th birthday in Beijing on Sunday, the third time she has gotten to mark her big day during a Winter Olympics. The three-time Olympian is the only South Korean athlete here whose birthday falls during the Feb. 4-20 competition. Before her training session on Sunday, Kim received a bouquet of flowers and a stuffed doll of the panda Olympic mascot, Bing Dwen Dwen, from the head of the athletic delegation, Yoon Hong-geun. Speaking to reporter

Feb. 6, 2022

First COVID-19 case confirmed among Korean delegation to Beijing Olympics

The first positive case of COVID-19 has been confirmed among the Korean delegation participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics, the national Olympic body said Saturday. According to the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, an official working for the skiing team tested positive for COVID-19 at the airport upon arrival in Beijing on Thursday. The official has been moved to a quarantine facility after receiving a positive test result again early Saturday from a retest on Friday. “We

Feb. 6, 2022

[BEIJING OLYMPICS] S. Korean figure skater to attempt 3 quadruple jumps in Beijing

With his confidence running high after a recent international victory, South Korean figure skater Cha Jun-hwan will try to push himself into medal contention at Beijing 2022 with three quadruple jumps. After nailing a quadruple salchow multiple times in practice on Saturday, Cha said he plans to do a quadruple salchow in the short program and then a quadruple salchow and a quadruple toe loop in the free skate. The salchow jump has the base score of 9.70 points and the toe loop has a 9.50 base

Feb. 6, 2022