TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chinese short-track speed skater Ren Ziwei (任子威) was disqualified from the men's 1,500 meters on Wednesday (Feb. 9) after drawing criticism for shoving a Hungarian athlete when crossing the finish line in the men's 1,000 meters event earlier in the week and marking the fourth race involving controversy with Chinese athletes.
In the semifinals of the men's 1,500-meter short-track competition on Wednesday, Ren was disqualified after he was seen blocking competitor Adil Galiakhmetov from Kazakhstan.
When interviewed by Chinese media after being disqualified, Ren said:
"I lost probably because I was too wound up, skating felt unnatural, and didn't pay attention to details. I made low-level mistakes and probably made wrongful contact with a competitor. I feel that I should have not made mistakes in that position, so it was low-level. I also put this kind of pressure on myself, so today's performance was not very good."
Ren's elimination from the competition cleared the way for South Korea's Hwang Dae-heon to take gold in the finals. South Korean fans considered Ren's disqualification and Hwang's win sweet revenge as both Hwang and teammate Lee June-seo were disqualified for illegal late passing and lane-changing in the men's 1,000 m semi-finals, clearing a path for Ren to take gold and countryman Li Wenlong to capture silver.
1,000 meters controversy
Ren (right) can be seen grabbing Liu as they near finish line. (Reuters photo)
In the final turn of the men's 1,000-meter final on Monday (Feb. 7), China's Ren Ziwei and Hungary's Shaolin Sandor Liu were neck and neck as they approached the finish line. The two clashed just before the finish line, but Liu appeared to cross the line milliseconds before Ren.
When a review was held, the Hungarian was penalized for a lane change that resulted in contact with an opponent and for allegedly using his hand to block a run on the final turn. However, in the video, Ren can be seen using both hands to grab and push Liu away. Yet he was not issued any penalty and was handed the gold medal.
Mixed team relay controversy
During the mixed team relay event on Saturday (Feb. 5), Hungary originally took first and the U.S. second, knocking the Chinese squad out of medal contention. However, the Chinese demanded a replay and after referees reviewed the footage, they ruled that an American skater had crossed the blue line and entered the race early, and it was deemed that they had impeded China's exchange of skaters.
A Russian Olympic Committee team was disqualified after a skater was seen to have gotten between two Chinese skaters during an exchange. This allegedly caused Ren Ziwei and Zhang Yuting to miss their tap, but they were allowed to continue on to the next round.
South Korean speed skater Kwak Yoon-gy, who witnessed the race, was cited by the Yonhap News Agency as saying that he had never seen a team allowed to continue after missing the exchange. "If it had been any other country than China in that situation, I wondered if that team would still have been allowed to reach the final like that," added Kwak.
Once in the finals, China finished first, with Wu Dajing beating Italy's Pietro Sighel by 0.016 seconds, or about half the length of a skate blade. Hungary came in third for the bronze medal.
Women's 500 meters controversy
Fan Kexin (second from right) pushes marker with left hand. (Twitter, Bill Murtagh screenshot)
During the final turn of the last lap of the quarterfinals of the women's 500 meters speed skating event on Monday, Canadian athlete Alyson Charles stepped on a marker and spun out of control into the wall. Fan Kexin (範可新) 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.
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."
