From Chris Chase at Yahoo!
Another Olympics, another short track speedskating controversy involving South Korea.
Actually, you could just as well say another international sporting event, another controversy involving South Korea. And its netizens.
This time, the women’s short track team was disqualified due to a judge’s decision, allowing — 이런! — China to take the gold in the 3,000 meters.
Needless to say, coach Choi Kwang-bok wasn’t happy:
While his skaters dissolved into tears, Choi was incandescent with rage at what he thought was an unfair decision.
“I argued with the referee at the end … but he ignored me and then he left. Today there was no crash between the bodies or body contact so I have no clue why we were disqualified,” he told reporters through a translator.
“It was out of my control when the judges made their decision. The main referee (Hewish) is from Australia and he misjudged it when Kim Dong-sung … was skating (in 2002) and disqualified. It was the same referee.”
Oh, didn’t we mention the judge was Australian James Hewish, the very same judge who disqualified skater Kim Dong-sung to give Satan himself, Apolo Anton Ohno, the gold in 2002?
Yes, South Korea, Jim Hewish did it to you again. The chief referee was in a precarious situation though. The offending bump was obvious, but it wasn’t clear that it should lead to a disqualification. Relays tend to be judged a little looser than regular short track events, so there was thought that Hewish might let the contact go. But after three minutes of deliberation, he decided that the bump had impeded China’s progress.
It wasn’t the wrong call, but it wasn’t the right one either. Short track rulings are judgment calls and this was the definition of one. The ruling was a no-win proposition that was going to make one side furious no matter what.
And furious one side is. According to Ye Olde Chosun, major Korean portal sites are strengthening their monitoring as Korean netizens go to work posting Mr. Hewish’s phone number, home address and other personal information on the Internet.
Ah, the netizens… more fun than the Winter Olympics itself!
Be curious as to what kind of nonsense the Chinese netizens are up to, too.
(HT to cm)
UPDATE: See Brian’s post, too.
UPDATE: Great… a man in his 30s has been arrested in Gunpo for sending a text message to KORAIL threatening to blow up the Aussie embassy. KORAIL, in turn, called police who evacuated and searched the embassy.
Nothing was found.
As it turns out, the man — who is deaf — had sent a threatening text message during the KORAIL strike late last year threatening to blow up Seoul Station.
During question, he told police he sent the message out of anger at the Australian judge who disqualified the Korean short track team.
You don’t say.
Anyway, police will decide whether to detain the guy when they’re investigation is finished.
{ 58 comments… read them below or add one }
I always wondered what drives i presume normally sentient human beings to become refs of any kind of sport…extreme masochism is the only answer that comes up to my mind
Did I mention that I’m glad I’m not in Korea for during the Olympics?
I wonder for how long this will keep the attention of netizens if Kim Yuna wins.
@SomeguyinKorea
Nah, the real question is… how long will this keep the attention of netizens if Kim Yuna loses.
Ya know, I don’t really care much about chick sports, and I care even less about chick short track, but I watched the replays of this event and I gotta say that these Korean gals, well, they was robbed.
DLB
Since the controversial call went in their favor, they’re probably not spending time tracking down personal information about Hewish.
Yes… but they will probably talk about how unsportsmanlike and sore losers those gao li bang zi are…
Btw… anyone put the Korean woman’s team under suicide watch? Hey, I’m just say’in.
I blame Ohno.
If you look at the video stills, you can see him in the crowd with his arms raised above his head – thus affecting the judge’s decision.
Australian Embassy gets a bomb threat. A man named “Kim” in police custody.
http://news.joins.com/article/763/4034763.html?ctg=1200
“Yes… but they will probably talk about how unsportsmanlike and sore losers those gao li bang zi are…”
Except for the slur, they’re probably right. It’s the same old anger issue that leads an entire country down the Mad Cow like protests and burning of American flags with a drop of a pin. Wangkon and gangpehmoderniste, please don’t try to justify this type of massive extreme nationalistic behavior by saying others do it too. That’s not the point, and that shouldn’t be an excuse.
I’m a Korean, I’m not trying to bash Korea. But if this type of grass roots mass mobilization is left unchecked, it can easily lead to racism and fascism. It should be condemned.
You can see NBC’s coverage of the incident. I agree with the NBC announcer’s take on what happend. Koreans were definitely robbed of the gold medal.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=3321ae53-96a9-4737-bb86-191e8f7955cf.html#short+track+womens+relay+final+a
OK, Koreans got robbed of gold. It happened. There’s not much can be done because it’s finished.
Can we move on now?
Or are we going to dwell on this for the next zillion years?
My god, talk about hypocrisy… Korean newspapers complaining about poor sore loser Japanese netizens who are angry over Yuna Kim’s points.
http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/sports/201002/h20100226023717111960.htm
When you have nutty national media and netizens going ape shit over a freaking short track race for women, you lose all credibility of accusing others of poor sportsmanship.
Well, during the slow-mo replay, one of the NBC co-commentators said that it appeared the Chinese skater actually stepped on the Korean skater causing the contact (which caused the Korean to slightly nudge away the Chinese skater). I think the commentators have no reason to side with Korea. But as stated above, it was a no-win call…you either pissed off the Chinese or you pissed off the Koreans (again). However, I think Koreans do tend to go way overboard over bad calls like this. Take a step back and realize that it’s only a sport. I think Koreans tend to get a bad reputation overseas due to our over-nationalism on these trivial things. Come on…Korea already has proven they are the team to beat in short track (and maybe even speed skating soon). The Korean skater ladies handled it well though, I thought.
It was a close call. Shame about the disqualification. An exceptional performance from an exceptional team failed to win a medal while the US team got one after failing to keep up with the pack. Kudos to the Korean women for displaying sportsmanship after the decision. Hope some of them are able to try again in 2014.
Tough luck. Short track is full of questionable calls. In this olympics, one of the Korean men actually reached down and tried to pull Ohno’s right leg to the right, and crash him. No DQ, no consequence at all. Meanwhile, in the women’s , doesn’t the Chinese skater have an obligation to move a bit over when she realizes she’s being passed? I dunno.. I’m no expert. And here comes the DQ.
But the bottom line is, Korea can’t change the outcome. If the judge says you fouled, you fouled. Fucking MAN UP for a change you pathetic pussies! You lost! It’s over…. you whine when you win, (Ohno doesn’t deserve to be on the podium) you whine when you lose, and to the extent the Int’l community sees this pathetic behaviour, Korea’s image goes even further into the toilet than it was, based on the Hate Ohno thing from Olympics past…. God, it’s UGLY… don’t they get that? Does the average Korean have any inkling of the conflict here between the obsequious search for int’l approval and the ugly reality of the powerful ,but petty hatreds that are in the hearts of so many Koreans?
The view from here in the pine forest is that it won’t change..not in the near future…and until it does Korea is a LOSER..among nations.
Now, I don’t understand fanaticism over sports on any level, but I can sympathize with the personal anguish. Training for years for Olympics and then to be wiped out by a petty decision sucks…
But if there’s a bright side… it sucks but it doesn’t suck as much as getting DQed or wiped out by your own teammate. It doesn’t suck even half of a half as much as being that speed skater (Sven Kramer) who got DQed because his coach is a moron who sent him on the wrong lane; Kramer would have won gold otherwise. Finally, the American short track team won their first medal in 16 years. The head coach of the team? A Korean. Oh glory.
Just had a look at Huanqiu and Tianya. Few threads with few comments so far. The women themselves did not display an unsportsmanlike reaction, and as long as Korean fans don’t stage a photo-op, then there’s nothing to fuel a fire. Coach Choi’s performance in the Water Bottle Throw provided plenty of fodder for jokes on Chinese BBSes.
It’s a Zionist conspiracy against Korea to punsih Korea for allowing so many Muslims into the country….
Jim + Hewish = Jewish!
I think it’s crucial that all netizens jointhis to show solidarity with such good bad taste.
Yes it sucks if you’re the athlete and you got unfairly DQ’ed. But does that excuse the bomb threat, the media witch hunt, the mob mentality on the internet? So what, Korea lost one gold medal, how does that effect individual Koreans? It doesn’t. But if their Korean pride is hurt, then Korea losing one gold medal doesn’t make or break the image of Korea. Winning one more gold medal won’t bring international respect for Korea. Unlike what the Korean media is ludicrously claiming (that being an Olympic sports power will elevate Korea’s international brand power), nothing will really change in any meaningful way. For god sakes, look at the CNN web site with the global map of all the countries that won a medal. South Korea is shown as one of the countries in white color which have not won any medals. LOL. They can win a zillion gold medals in Short Track speed skating but no one really cares except for Koreans! Winning gold medals in speed skating isn’t going to put the country on the global map. Please Koreans who are reading this, wake up and smell the coffee.
Yes, cm, we get it already.
But the real question is, who cut that Chinese girl’s face?
Disclaimer: I don’t care for sports. I am Australian. I don’t understand this decision.
It’s unfortunate that some have chosen to blame a whole country. I might tone down my Aussie-ness today, but I don’t really expect to come under any attack for it.
I read on a Chinese BBS thread that she cut her face after bumping into a wall.
“But the real question is, who cut that Chinese girl’s face?”
Another Chinese girl who accidentally clipped her team mate’s face with her skate while celebrating their gold.
“Yes, cm, we get it already.”
Well, a number of Koreans are not getting it, because they’re rating down all the posts that are not “we wuz robbed we want justice”. Unless the expats in this forum are doing it, which let’s just say, is a bit unlikely.
which cnn are you looking at? the one i just looked at shows sk in red. when you scroll over it, it notes the medal count.
#25, pawi, the Korean newspaper believe it or not reported on that very fact (that Korea was white which indicates a no medal count), just yesterday. This was reported in the major dailies, which lead to netizen outcry and actions. I wouldn’t be surprised if VANK got involved. So are you telling me, Pawi, that the CNN has fixed that huge transgressing oversight?
AMAZINGLY STUPID.
Liar. Everyone knows you can be disinterested in sports, or you can be Australian, but you can’t be both at the same time.
Heavens, not that. Then I’d be forced to blog about the actual skating. No man should be forced to blog about short track skating.
See it this way…
Here’s the rule from the World Short Track webpage:
“Sometimes a skater bumps another skater who could have have won the race. The skater that did the bumping gets disqualifed (DQ). The skater who got bumped gets advanced..”
Source: http://www.worldshorttrack.com/shorttrack/about/rules.asp
The skater who got bumped was the Korean. She had the inside lane, was already in front of the Chinese skater. So why were the Koreans DQed? Conclusion: Definitely not a fair call. Simply put, Hewish should not be officiating these races anymore. Agree with his call or not, he’s too controversial.
well, all i’m saying is the map shows it colored and indicates it’s medal count. if the korean newspapers are saying what you just wrote, it’s just one more shot to their shoddy rep. all they have to do is click to verify.
#29, they reported on it just yesterday and posted up a link. When I clicked on it yesterday, indeed Korea was white. So yeah, what they reported was correct. Today, CNN fixed it. But I’m sure they did it with some help (you know what I mean?). But the point is, the pettiness of the major Korean dailies to report on this… is amazingly stoopid. How would you call this other than insecurity? inferiority complex?
i don’t really care about this issue but i think cnn leaving out korea makes them look bad. i don’t think it’s improper for koreans to point our their error.
Why do you think I live in Korea? The Australian government ordered me to leave and requested a sport-loving Korean in my place.
#28,
Mmm, looks to me like you’re being very selective in your interpretation of the rules. Here’s what I found on the very same site:
“Impeding
Impeding occurs when a skater hinders another skaters progress. This can happen by bumping or pushing another skater. A tiny bump can throw off another skaters stride, making them slow down inorder to regain their balance and rhythm.
Touching another skater is not allowed during a race but it’s unavoidable especially at the start of the 500m. Usually it’s up to the referees discretion to decide whether a touch was accidental or it impeded another skater progress to the finish line.
Another type of impeding occurs when a skater blocks someone from passing. The impeding skater slows down or sticks an arm out in front of a passing skater. This also happens by accident during passing especially if the impeding skater just lost their balance for a split second.
For the most part, skaters don’t impede on purpose, but it does happen. If the referee decides that the impeding was blatantly intentional designed to injure, the impeding skater can be thrown out of competition.”
http://www.worldshorttrack.com/shorttrack/about/infractions.asp
“i don’t really care about this issue but i think cnn leaving out korea makes them look bad. i don’t think it’s improper for koreans to point our their error.”
I wouldn’t say it makes them look bad, but it certainly isn’t a good reason to get upset. Sometimes, it feels as if the government has people looking for these kinds of mistakes for propaganda purposes…Oh, right…I forgot.
well, they’re a news organization and that means that they should have their facts straight. if they left out korea, it means they didn’t have their facts straight. that korea is one of the top medal winners makes me wonder how such an error happened in the first place. in any event, they’ve corrected the situation and so this should no longer be an issue for koreans or anybody else.
Sometimes things go your way (scroll down to number 1)
http://www.goal.com/en/news/2377/top-10/2010/02/19/1798148/top-10-games-where-referees-have-damaged-italian-teams
Sometimes they don’t….
Truth be told, I wasn’t being selective. I was merely copying and pasting from the first span of comments I came across on a news page about the incident.
Still, I don’t believe the Korean was impeding anyone. The Chinese skater converged onto the Korean skater and then stepped on the Korean’s skate. Bumping was inevitable on that turn, and this happened directly after both teams received the relay/boost from their teammates. The Koreans got DQed for it. They would have won gold or silver if not for that incident. How does that equate to intentional impeding?
Anyway, I’m done with this subject. I’d hate to become a Korean nutizen, or, just as worse, an anti-Korean-nutizen nutizen for such a stupid thing as short track skating.
The thing I like the most about the sport? Pretty girls bent over in speedos moving fast. There, I said it. I like the American team the most in this regard. :p
Shame on James Hewish!!!!! Once is a mistake, twice gives cause for serious concern. I know that any nation (Australia included) would feel outrage at being given this sickeningly poor decision. Incorrect judgements are made everyday in general sports events but you would expect more competent judgement when it comes to Olympic Gold. Sorry Korea!!!! however, this has come down to officials, not the Australian people.
Three cheers for Katherine Reutter.
“Still, I don’t believe the Korean was impeding anyone. The Chinese skater converged onto the Korean skater and then stepped on the Korean’s skate.”
Believe what you may, but the Chinese skater was ahead going on a left turn when the Korean crossed he path coming from the inside of the curve, bumping her out (and hitting her in the face) in the process.
…Can’t say I totally disagree with you, though.
“for such a stupid thing as short track skating.
The thing I like the most about the sport? Pretty girls bent over in speedos moving fast. There, I said it. I like the American team the most in this regard”
#35,
The sad thing is that it was and still is an issue for some.
@Robert #27,
Totally agree. I have today off as it is the Prophet’s Birthday here in Indonesia and I intend to go to the pub with my mates and watch the Australia vs New Zealand cricket game. Anyone who wouldn’t is not a real Aussie!
What we really need now is Gerry Bevers to come in here and settle the debate with some video analysis and lip-reading.
Gerry?
A Korean scolding a news organisation for not getting their facts straight has to be the funniest think I have read all week.
think –> thing.
cm: no i won’t try to condone anything like that, it is a vile, moronic behaviour with no excuses. Emphasis on the word moronic: it is stupid, embarassing etc. but still didn’t pass the criminal threshold (at least not seriously) and as far as i know Koreans i don’t think that threshold will be passed any time soon, as lleast as long as the drugs don’t become largerly and easily available.
Mind you, i may be totally wrong, fiancé tells me all the time the country is more dangerous than it seems and i hold an excessviely sugary vision of it.
I’d like to give you 2 links though:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/football-fans-die-in-train-arson-1095803.html
2 of the victims were 15 years old
http://www.football-hooligans.org/roma-ultras.html
In this case i’d like to point out this paragraph:”
The 1984 European Cup final was held in Rome and was between Roma and Liverpool. Roma losing the match in there own back yard was a bitter pill to swallow. Large gangs roamed the streets picking off groups of Liverpool fans, some of them just families making there way back to there hotel. One 13 year old boy was attacked with a machete and required over 200 stitches . Dozens of English fans were stabbed & beaten and were offered no protection from the police or authorities. Many Liverpool fans had to seek refuge at the British embassy “.
At least Korea isn’t like that.
What’s all these stuff about Korean netizens. Who cares about these netizens over reacting to a sporting event, but its condescending to describe all Koreans this way.
If you have problems with how these netizens react, then start talking about with your students (those of you that are teachers), or start a mega argue fest with elementary kids, ha~. Just grab any Korean kids on the street, and tell them how much of a prick they are.
I’m not really angry but I’m just curious.
I mean in 2002 he disqualified another south Korean player and the player didn’t even touch anyone
Now in the 2010 winter Olympics his hand touched the other player,,, just touched it. It wasn’t a push. A touch.
my question is would he have done the same thing if it wasn’t a South Korean player???
I’d rather they NOT move so fast. They’re easier to catch if they’re slow.
The reason why there is such an uproar on the uncalled for Hewish DQ
is probably because Koreans are all active and not passive people.
My definition of passive and active?
If we were all animals like a dog, and you as a dog was witnessing another dog boning your female dog, you witness no emotion. (and probably join in after he is done)
As a passive human, you are exactly like the dog mentioned above. Very little emotion if any.
As an active person, your blood vessels pop from fury when you witness the above scenario with your girl and a stranger.
I guess its only natural as a human being to feel unfairness and wanting justification.
For the korean girls, it must have felt like winning a lottery ticket of a lifetime only to find the taxes claiming 95% of the winnings – simply daylight robbing.
@51. “As an active person, your blood vessels pop from fury when you witness the above scenario with your girl and a stranger.”
I am not the active person in this scenario. I am the stranger, and I am pleasing your woman in ways that you never could. Burst, blood vessels, burst….Hercules has just humiliated you in front of all!
With reports now that Hewish’s house in Sydney is under police guard (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/australian-judge-under-police-protection-at-winter-olympics/story-fn4vwn8v-1225835083968) due to threats from the Korean netizen community I think it’s finally time to say that yes, whilst the decision was quite harsh and a bad question, the netizen community has to take a deep breath, release any lingering han and chill the hell out because you’re not doing your country any benefit and in fact are potentially sabotaging any chances of South Korea holding a major sports event in the near-future.
Ohno and Jim Hewish in ’02, the Swiss national soccer team and FIFA in ’06 and now Jim Hewish and the Australian Embassy in Seoul – death threats, e-mail bombing and other malarkey may help overturn decisions within Korea but does bugger all for your cause in the rest of the world. FIFA and the IOC have long memories and it’s not a good idea to piss ‘em off if you hope to host a winter games in Pyeongchang and the ’22 World Cup in Korea.
I think someone high up really needs to step in and tell the lunatic-fringe subset of the population that these shenanigans that follow any and every time something goes against Korea, has the potential to damage the country’s image far more than a hundred Korea, Sparkling™ ads can help the country’s image.
I hate when netizen losers sabotage Korea’s image as often the result is Korea making news for all the wrong reasons. One minute we have Kim Yu-na, the personification of grace, goodwill and ability; the next we have the netizen nutbars. *sigh*
P.S. I lost interest in short-track skating once Steven Bradbury retired.
Time for deportations of Koreans. Empty Sydney as this kind of shit is not on. We may smoke dope and fuck you unweddable agashis, but we are not fomenting terrorist action against your international sporting representatives.
Of course not! And that’s b/c the rest of the international world judging community — sans you people — knows how to judge impartially, fairly and according to the rules. Also, you people have been too busy “fomenting terrorist action” against yourselves:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bryant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowtown_murders
(What a bunch of classy blokes!)
Yeah and you might add to that your ethnic fellow traveler who murdered 30-odd people at Virginia Tech. Where were the calls for retribution against the Kyopo community following that particular incident? Again, answer me why it would not be right when one of your fifth-column-hugging transplants in my country has obviously drunk too deeply from the Hanaid and published PICTURES of Jim Hewish’s house on the internet? To what end did you think the particular Han-scum who did that intended for his fellow hive minds intend to go? If it was to hold a candlelight vigil outside the place a-ala your deranged middle schoolers and lefties in the summer of 08, you got another thing coming to you.
And yeah, fuckhead, you should go google Roy Jones Jr. Like Australians have a monopoly on so-called poor sporting decisions.
“I’d rather they NOT move so fast. They’re easier to catch if they’re slow. ”
Don’t worry it’s an oval, just stand still and wait…
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