TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chinese speed skating team drew accusations of cheating for at least the third time at the Beijing Winter Olympics after video surfaced on Tuesday (Feb. 8) showing Fan Kexin (範可新) flicking a marker in front of her Canadian opponent causing her to crash out of the race.
During the final turn of the last lap of the quarterfinals of the women's 500 meters speed skating event on Monday (Feb. 7), Canadian athlete Alyson Charles stepped on a marker and spun out of control into the wall. Fan was unable to avoid Charles as she spun out of control and fell into the wall as well, also eliminating her from the race.
However, video review of the incident shows Fan appear to reach over the leg of another Canadian skater and push the marker into the path of Charles' left skate, causing her to slip out of control. Fan reacts to the fall before any of the other competitors and attempts to position herself to the inside to avoid Charles but still collided with her and took a spill.
Canadian skater Florence Brunelle was blamed for causing Fan and Charles to fall. Even though she came in second place, because it was her second penalty, she was disqualified from the race, with Arianna Valcepina of Italy officially taking second place.
As Charles was deemed to be in second place at the time of the crash and was allowed to continue on to the semifinals, eventually placing eighth in the competition. The first-place winner of the quarterfinal, Canadian Kim Boutin, went on to take the bronze medal in the finals.
Video of the incident was posted on Reddit under the title "'Sportsmanship' shown by the Chinese skater in the Beijing Olympics."
Rob Williams, a Canadian sports reporter for Daily Hive, questioned on Twitter whether the incident was "sabotage or incidental contact?" He pointed out that the slow motion replay of the crash "looks suspect."
Twitter user Bill Murtagh argued that Brunelle was unfairly disqualified from the event and observed "You can clearly see it was the hand of Chinese skater Fan Kexin that pushed the marker that caused the spill. Bad call." Another Twitter user, Mary Mullen wrote "Holy mackerel! You can see the second Chinese skater push the cone under the foot of the Canadian."
A controversial replay demanded by the Chinese during the semifinals of the mixed team relay event enabled the team to qualify for the finals at the expense of the U.S. team. At the end of the men's 1,000-meter final, Hungary's Shaolin Sandor Liu finished first, but was penalized for obstructing China's Ren Ziwei, who was awarded the gold, despite the fact that video showed Ren using both hands to grab and push Liu away.
"Sportsmanship" shown by the Chinese skater in the Beijing OlympicsCanadian skater Florence Brunelle was wrongly DQ’d in the Women’s 500 metre short track semi. You can clearly see it was the hand of the Chinese skater Fan Kexin that pushed the marker that caused the spill. Bad call. #TeamCanada #Olympics pic.twitter.com/6mbwUo3pwz
— Bill Murtagh (@cavendishbill) February 7, 2022
Sabotage or incidental contact? The slow motion replay from this morning's short track speed skating event looks suspect https://t.co/LfX7ThhhmI
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) February 7, 2022
