[PyeongChang 2018] Chinese fans slam Koreans over speedskating penalty

Some of the infuriated Chinese fans have launched a verbal warfare against Korean counterparts on short track speedskater Choi Min-jeong’s Instagram account.

The online confrontation came after the judges handed over the gold medal to Team Korea at the women’s 3,000-meter short track relay on Tuesday.

Shim Suk-hee, Choi Min-jeong, Kim A-land and Kim Ye-jin went up against Team China, Italy and Canada in the finals relay Tuesday at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung. 

The race was a very close call. Choi came in first, finishing the race in 4 minutes 7.36 seconds closely followed by China’s Qu Chunyu. Colliding with the Canadians, Team Italy finished the race in 4 minutes 15.90 seconds.

With judges handing China and Canada penalties during the race, Italy and the Netherlands received silver and bronze, respectively.

Enraged at the judges’ decision, Chinese fans bombarded Choi’s Instagram, criticizing “Koreans for lacking humility whatsoever.” Many commenters also warned Koreans to “remember Beijing 2022.” 

Korean fans responded back with more criticism of Chinese fans and athletes, sparking a dispute. One fan wrote, “Your short track players did dirty play.” Another fan applauded Choi for her “perfect” performance and criticized the Chinese athletes for having “no sportsmanship.”

Chinese athletes voiced their disappointment in the judges’ call for penalizing them. A Chinese speedskater was quoted as saying, “If we were Team Korea, we wouldn’t have received the penalty.”

By Catherine Chung (cec82@heraldcorp.com)