Fainting is the worst. And it was probably the fainting that made Yoon Hong-geun so angry after the 1000-meter short tracker competition at the Beijing Winter Games. Yoon is the chef de mission of the South Korean team. Of course, he knows that not everything can go well at a world sports festival and that defeats are part of the program of every normal team. After all, one of his tasks is not only to celebrate the successful, but also to comfort those who have failed.
But Yoon Hong-geun wasn’t angry about a loss at all. But clearly because of this powerlessness, which he saw exposed to his short trackers in said 1000 meter competition. To be more precise, the world record holder Hwang Dae-heon and his teammate Lee June-seo, who were disqualified in the semifinals for unfair lane changes – in favor of two Chinese. And this circumstance gave a special touch to the anger of the official in the country of the great Olympic host.
Here the South Korean Hwang Dae-heon is ahead. Shortly thereafter he is disqualified.
(Photo: Natacha Pisarenko/AP)
After the first short track competitions, many are amazed at the jury’s performance. China has already celebrated ravishing comeback successes under this. In mixed on Saturday, the home team won gold after actually being eliminated in third place in the semi-finals. A disqualification from Team USA changed the situation, after which South Korea’s veteran Kwak Yoon-gy wondered “if another team should have reached the final like this”.
“Fair play must be guaranteed in sport,” warns South Korea’s chef de mission
And on Monday, several subsequent referee decisions seemed to be necessary before the desired result was determined. The punishment of the two co-favorite South Koreans brought the home players Li Wenlong and Wu Dajing into the final and thus a total of three Chinese. And the photo finish in the final was resolved after a long deliberation by a judge’s decision in the Chinese sense. Hungary’s Liu Shaolin Sandor was disqualified due to an illegal contact in an earlier scene. Gold went to Ren Ziwei, China and silver to Li Wenlong, China. A round thing. At least for China.
But not for South Korea’s Chef de Mission. “Fair play must be guaranteed in sports,” Yoon Hong-geun said at a press conference on Tuesday, declaring that he would use the full range of civilized sports resistance. Protest notes to the short track boards, letters of complaint to the International Skating Union (ISU) and International Olympic Committee (IOC). Even an appeal to the Cas Sports Court is planned. Yoon also wants to speak to the boss, IOC President Thomas Bach.
The ISU crushed the protest. The IOC President could not immediately have time in this complicated technical matter. And Yoon Hong-geun was careful not to go too far. Partisan short tracking for the Middle Kingdom? “I don’t think it’s my place to comment on China,” he said. The relationship to the huge neighbor is always ambivalent for South Koreans. And in the end, Yoon Hong-geun also had to acknowledge the perfidy of powerlessness: You can scold as much as you want – it doesn’t help at all.