winter olympics

Angry Koreans demand review of judges' scores in figure skating after Kim's silver finish

93 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2014 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

93 Comments
Login to comment

Quite right - Kim should've won it, and the home-country advantage was ugly.

However, it's the big revolving door of "what goes around comes around." Karmic retribution for South Korea's own horrible cheating in the Seoul Olympic Games of '88, when Roy Jones Jr. somehow "lost" the boxing gold medal to Si-hun Park?

If anyone doesn't remember this story, Jones won EVERY round vs. Park, Park took a standing 8 count at one point, and Jones landed 86 punches vs. Park's 32. Yet the judges gave the decision to Park. Biggest rip-off scandal in Olympic history, as far as I'm concerned. Two of the 3 judges were later banned for life, and the third was banned for 2 years.

Here's a video on it: http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2010/06/03/top-10-blown-calls/slide/roy-jones-jr-vs-park-si-hun-1988/

21 ( +26 / -5 )

"Angry Koreans" .... pretty much says it all. How many stories have we seen in these Olympics about "angry Koreans"? Koreans are angry that their own countryman (Mr Ahn) preferred to skate for Russia and win gold. Koreans are so angry that an mistake by a British skater (Elise Christie) cost their side a gold that "fans" trashed her and threatened her to the point she had to take down her twitter and fb pages. Now koreans are angry that their darling didn't deliver the gold medal they assumed was their birthright.

Those are just the ones I'm aware of, there have probably been more. Meanwhile other countries continue to have athletes fail to medal yet resist the urge to lash out at this event which is supposed to symbolize sportsmanship. "Angry Koreans" are shaming themselves around the world with their childish displays of poor sportsmanship. I wonder if they realize how ridiculous they seem. It needs to be said that the "fans" are proving themselves unworthy hosts for any future Olympiad.

And Change.org ... really? Teams of engineers around the clock? For something as stupid as this? Really?

18 ( +30 / -11 )

South Korea, shut up and be sport! Kim Yuna herself isn't complaining.

11 ( +20 / -8 )

The days of Whines and Roses.

Perhaps the person happiest about this is Apollo Ohno, another chap to fall foul of the Korean hordes. Perhaps he will no longer receive death threats. Back in the day South Korea managed to send so much hate mail to the IOC over that incident that they crashed servers left, right and center.

What can you say? It's only sport? Get a grip? Grow up? Although I enjoy sport as much as the next Kim, Kim and Kim, at the end of the day the judges decision (like it or not) is final. Indeed, those who cannot accept such a basic tenet shouldn't be allowed in the sandbox.

PS. Might be relevant to remember that South Korea is hosting the next winter Olympics. Let's hope they finish their national dummy spit before then.

10 ( +13 / -2 )

Your hatred of anything Korea says it all.

Not so. I praised Kim for her generous and correct comments in the face of her defeat. She seems like a fine young woman and a credit to her family and country.

I did forget to mention one other thing I like about the "angry Koreans" as mentioned in this article - their tendency to try and get outsiders (any outsiders) to take their side in whatever petty squabble they happen to find themselves engaged in. Please note the article quotes the official media outlet for ROK claiming “many foreign media” had questioned the judges’ decision. Or the "angry Korean" who posted that "Yuna Kim’s medal is given by the rest of the world." Or indeed the president herself claiming that Kim's performance would be remembered " by the whole world".

Why the need to act as if "the whole world" were on your side, when if anything the actions of ROK "fans" have turned most of the world off?

10 ( +16 / -6 )

When are the Koreans NOT complaining about something?!

10 ( +15 / -5 )

They can rant and whine until they're red in the face, but it's not going to change the medal standings.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

I wasn't surprised that Yuna Kim did not repeat in Sochi. I had a feeling that a Russian figure skater would win the gold, but I didn't expect Adelina Sotnikova to win the gold. This is the history of figure skating, most gold medal winners usually wins when no one expect them too. All eyes were on the other Russian Julia Lipnitskaia would win the gold, whether it was a scandal or not. Shizuka Arakawa won, because no one expected her to. All eyes in 2006 were focused on Sasha Cohen and Irina Slutskaya. Yuna's biggest mistake was not the way she skated, but the way she split with her coach Brian Orser. Now that he coached another gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu. I was really impressed that Yuna even won a silver, training in Korea. There is a big difference between training in Korea to training in Canada. In Korea, the media will follow her every move, even if she had to take a trip to the toilet. No different to the Japanese media with Mao Asada. Mao and Yuna both made a serious training error. If Yuna bailed on Brian Orser, Mao should have taken that opportunity to be coached by Orser. Instead Mao made the same mistake by training locally. When Yuna Kim won the gold in 2010, she was training in an almost perfect environment, while Mao was training in Japan doing Skype with her Russian coach. If Yuna was training the way she was from 2007-2010, the results would have been different. She would have been a 2-time Olympic gold medalist and the Russian might not have been close. I saw Yuna skate last night and compared to 2010 and there was a huge difference. 4 years ago, she was skating with confidence and with great speed. Mao Asada could have done 5 triple axels in 2010 and still lose. Yuna was smooth and her movement was beautiful. Last night, she was relying too much of her artistic ability and her skating wasn't as smooth as she was 4 years ago. It seemed like Yuzuru Hanyu took Yuna Kim's body and skated for the gold. I understood why Yuna Kim wanted to move back to Korea, as peaceful as Canada can be, it is a bit boring compared to Korea. Yuna wanted a life, which she didn't have when she was training in Canada. I thought Sotnikova skated better, because she had nothing to lose. Nobody expected her to win and all eyes were on the other Russian skater Julia. It is weird that the Soviet Union never won an Olympic Gold in ladies Figure Skating, after all those medals they won during the Cold War.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Was the Russian performance that bad?

Ya-Na boosted Korea's image, and then these 700,000 whiners spoiled it.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

I watched the performances again and again....Russia’s Adelina Sotnikova just skated a bit better in such a close finals....in my opinion.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Koreans angry again?!??!? they need to enrol onto some Anger Management classes. Always the victim!!!!

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Ah South Korea's victim complex.. No doubt they will soon be blaming the Japanese and demanding we give them compensation over this.

6 ( +18 / -11 )

The performance was not flawless.

The commentators on the stream I was watching (both of which were Olympic medal winners when they competed), both pointed out mistakes with her jumps and step sequences. I'm no expert, but these commentators had no reason to not be impartial. In fact, during the live performance one of them even said it was a Gold medal winning performance, but when he saw slowed down replays said he didn't notice the mistakes in real-time.

I am no Korean basher, but seriously, this reaction is pretty pathetic and cries of "sore-loser."

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Kungaa MergenFEB. 21, 2014 - 08:02PM JST Many, not all of 'em, Koreans confused between Adelina Sotnikova and Yuliya Lipnitskaya. Lipnitskaya fell down and completely failed, she's too young. And Koreans say that how athlete who fell down beat Kim Yuna. But in fact, Sotnikova beat Kim Yuna and became olimpic champion. Looks like some kind of mass hysteria. There is some analysis from NY Times - http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/20/sports/olympics/womens-figure-skating.html?smid=fb-share . It's NY Times, not Komsomol'skaya Pravda, so they don't sympathize to Russia.

Thank you so much Mr. Mergen. I hope those 700,000 morons can see the difference. I highly doubt those fools to have any idea on the technicalities of the sport. Sotnikova's double axle is not a double revolution exhibition, it is 2 1/2 which makes it difficult, plus combine it with the combination of a triple toe. A much harder move compared to Yuna's Triple salchow and double toe. The axle is a very difficult jump and few like Asada Mao has accomplished a triple version of it. In other words, The 700,000 ignorant fools, are only basing their judgement, not on technicalities , but to their untrained eye and ears. "Hey that's a double axle, it should be same with a double toe, since they are double", WRONG!. Both performances from Yuna and Sotnikova are worthy of a medal, and I congratulate them both together with Kostner.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

While it's a predictable Korea-bashing comment from a hater, claims of inflated scores for the Russian skater

If it doesn't make Korea look good, doesn't favor the Korean side, or exposes Koreans' propensity to whine and complain when things don't go their way, it's called a "predictable Korea-bashing" comment from a "hater."

I get it. It all makes sense now.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Ok, fine, Russian judge, I understand. But why Ukrainian should lean to Russian athlete? Because of Soviet history? Such stereotypical.

Maybe Korean judge also should lean to Japanese athletes, because Korea were part of Japanese empire?

6 ( +9 / -3 )

I agree with hidingout. Nowadays "angry koreans" sounds like an anecdote itself.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

but the Russian skater fell during her routine

She didn't fall! That was the other Russian. Geez!

6 ( +7 / -1 )

ohayo206 :

"she two-footed her jump"

Both skaters, Korean and Russian, performed flawlessly but Adelina Sotnikova showed more difficult-to-perform elements of skating. That's all. There is no reasons to whine and cry.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

With the new secrecy laws you certainly wouldn't hear about it in the J-media

Oh dear, someone is very confused.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

It's a day like this embarrassed to be Korean being too much of sore losers. They often do it but oh boy... how disappointing.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

As expected, the Koreans will be up in arms about this. No different from their reaction when Ohno won gold.

@hidingout Correct, indeed. The title says it all. How many stories have we seen about 'Angry Koreans' in the Olympics, or for that matter in the news, politics, or any international sporting event? If it's not some Korean athlete holding some 'Dokdo' sign or some Korean fans holding a giant image of some Korean 'martyr' in a soccer match it's something else. Seriously, they need to keep that han, that eternal cultural rage within that causes their massive insecurity and inferiority complex in check. What is sad is that they don't see how idiotic and foolish they look to the rest of the world. They think it's normal and many even defend their and their people's actions. Seriously, what an unfortunate culture.

They can learn from Yuna who was gracious and classy in defeat. Koreans can whine all they want and even mobilize their Vankers and online nationalist troops, but it sure as heck won't change who got the gold. Talk about an exercise in futility. If any, it just shows to the world again that Koreans are sore, immature and insecure losers. They must be proud of themselves.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

Many, not all of 'em, Koreans confused between Adelina Sotnikova and Yuliya Lipnitskaya. Lipnitskaya fell down and completely failed, she's too young. And Koreans say that how athlete who fell down beat Kim Yuna. But in fact, Sotnikova beat Kim Yuna and became olimpic champion. Looks like some kind of mass hysteria.

There is some analysis from NY Times - http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/20/sports/olympics/womens-figure-skating.html?smid=fb-share . It's NY Times, not Komsomol'skaya Pravda, so they don't sympathize to Russia.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

South Korean cry-babies. They never stop. Despite her short program meltdown, Asada Mao had an almost perfect free program, yet she came third in that program and you don't see the Japanese whining. But the Koreans, oh the world have to stop for them. I feel for Kim, but I'm sure glad the Koreans didn't get that gold .

5 ( +9 / -4 )

They can demand a review, but it isn't going to happen. Kim Yu-Na skated a technically less-demanding routine than Sotnikova did and therefore Sotnikova trounced Kim Yu-Na in the technical judging. Everybody is in agreement with that. Where the controversy is located is in the "artistic" scores, and that's purely a judgement call by the (aptly named) judges. Until somebody can quantify "artistic movement" into discrete numbers, you're always going to have these apparent controversies.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

kringis, it's funny how Koreans are getting mixed up between Julia Lipnitskaia to Adelina Sotnikova.

Julia Lipnitskaia did fall twice and she didn't even medal.

Adelina Sotnikova has a reputation of falling under pressure, but in the Sochi games, she skated like a completely different skater and won the gold by skating cleanly.

It's funny how Koreans compare how the Japanese would do the same if Mao Asada skated a clean program. Just say if Mao Asada did not fall on her short program. It didn't matter, the best she would have done was a bronze medal. Will Japanese fans complain?? Yes. But will they go all the way by writing hate mails or write a petition to Change.org to have the scores investigated? No. Yoshiro Mori's stupid comments does not represent the entire nation of Japan. He doesn't have much longer to live anyways. So let him be a grumpy old man.

I started to show my respect to Yuna when she made the right statement. It seemed like she behaved far better than the Korean fans.

"The scores are given by the judges so I'm not in the right position to comment and there is nothing I say that will change with my words," she said. "The most important thing for me was to take part in these Games."

I also believe this is a message from Yuna Kim to the annoying Korean fans saying, "Leave me alone! Let me enjoy my life!"

5 ( +5 / -0 )

No one cares what the Koreans and Japanese think. The gold medal was awarded to the best skater. Sotnikova had a clearly more difficult routine and went for broke in her free program. Kim played it more safe and didn't score as many points. The american of course wined about losing but thats expected from america. No matter how many signatures you get to reverse the decision it will not happen. 1.5 million is nothing...how many Koreans are there? I'm surprised more of them didn't sign that ridiculous petition.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

I don't care whether Yuna Kim won or not. I wasn't surprised about this happening when Yuna Kim didn't repeat.

Now, I have much more respect with Yuna Kim, because she handled defeat with class. Unlike the way the Koreans are behaving. I also believe it was Yuna's message to the Korean people to move on and get a life.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Whether Yuna deserves the Gold or not it was up to the judges. It's not perfect, but that's the way it is.

Yuna said it herself. She handled the situation professionally, but it's too bad the Korean people don't think the same.

The viewers will most likely chose Yuna's perfomance, but the skating experts said that Sotnikova skated a much more difficult program. Plus, she's skating in front of her home crowd.

"The scores are given by the judges so I'm not in the right position to comment and there is nothing I say that will change with my words," she said. "The most important thing for me was to take part in these Games."

Yuna did not skate like she did 4 years ago. I knew if the score was too close with Sotnikova, it was pretty much hers to lose and not Yuna. That is the difference when you are skating in front of your home crowd.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Do anyone see Yuna Kim blaming the judges for her loss? No!!

It's too bad that the majority of the Korean nation acting like a whining babies over the scores. So what do they do, they crash the Change.org server and demand the scores?? 10-years ago, they did the same thing by crashing the USOC server, because Apollo Ohno received over 100,000 hate mails coming from Korea? Then in the World Cup 2002, they were still putting up big signs of anti-Apollo Ohno, when Korea played the US. The funny thing was, most Americans didn't even know who Apollo Ohno was. By the way, they cheated against Spain in the 2002 World Cup.

If the Russians did cheat, are the Koreans any different?? Isn't that hypocrisy?

Korea will host the next Olympics, don't be surprised if they cheat, because it's in their nature. They did in Seoul Olympics in 88 and the World Cup in 2002.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Is a silver medal not good enough? Well done Ms. Kim. I hope memories of your achievements will not be marred by these people and wish you best of luck in future.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

"there was heartbreak and anger over her eventual silver medal finish"

Imagine the heartbreak and anger over Carolina Kostner's bronze medal finish, lol.

Heck, I really liked Akiko Suzuki's skating, but she came in 8th.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

"KojiWada"'s comment put it all in perspective and I am sure Brian Orser is laughing all the way to the Bank!

Anyway, this is the result when Arrogance snd Nationalism is put ahead of the primary perspective: "Win the Gold".

Yes - Dethroned by a Russian who came in with no high expectations, a good attitude, and essentially skated a better performance than Kim.

To me and to most judges - "Attitude" goes a long way in these competitions including the Olympics.

That's the bottom line.

100% I support the judges decision at awarding Sotnikova the Gold Medal.

BTW: South Korea - Would you like some cheese with that whine?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

You don't know how many times since Wednesday I've had to hear .... blah blah blah.

I'm sure you did hear some comments from people unhappy with the results. Did you read any news of Japanese or Americans threatening other athletes with physical harm, leaving the victim fearful enough to take down her twitter and fb pages? Have you read any news of Americans or Japanese crashing the servers at change.org with hateful comments and demands to be instated as the gold medal winner?

When you can answer yes to either of those questions, get back to me.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

after the Russian woman fell but Kim skated perfectly

No, Sotnikova did not fall, it was the other Russian, Lipnitskaya that did. Sounds like some posters and many Koreans are misinformed and letting their sense of nationalism cloud their judgments. Besides, Kim did not skate cleanly. She may have not fallen, but she landed offbalance on some of her jumps and her moves didn't have the same fluidity that it did in Vancouver. Overall, she was very conservative, while Sotnikova put all of her energy and effort into her routine.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

genjuroFEB. 21, 2014 - 08:44PM JST While it's a predictable Korea-bashing comment from a hater, claims of inflated scores for the Russian skater If it doesn't make Korea look good, doesn't favor the Korean side, or exposes Koreans' propensity to whine and complain when things don't go their way, it's called a "predictable Korea-bashing" comment from a "hater." I get it. It all makes sense now.

You bet! Koreans are like hungry meowing cats when they're hungry. They can scratch you and bite you while you feed them. I visited some videos of Sotnikova in youtube and I never failed to see at least one Korean cussing and posting death threats. How disturbing.

technosphereFEB. 22, 2014 - 10:15AM JST ohayo206 : "she two-footed her jump" Both skaters, Korean and Russian, performed flawlessly but Adelina Sotnikova showed more difficult-to-perform elements of skating. That's all. There is no reasons to whine and cry.

I know ,right?

Let's take a look at their performance, shall we? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3wtfgT4TX8

Eiji TakanoFEB. 22, 2014 - 04:21PM JST So, it has now garnered 1.5 million signatures: "Sochi 2014: 1.5m sign petition calling for inquiry into figure skating gold" http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/21/sochi-2014-south-korea-russia-figure-skating-gold-sotnikova-kim-yuna On the commenting section, there are almost no mentions of Korea. Most either agreed that it was unfair, or didn't care. Except for one comment by "teriyaki", who is probably a Japanese: Korean 'netizens' are often over the top and on the edge of being pathetic... I think some of these guys need a reality check. I think the bigger 'scandal' was that Lipnitskaya's deeply flawed free program was awarded more points than Asada's performance with 8 triple jumps considering that technical aspects were stressed as the main aspect of favoring Sotnikova over Kim and Kostner... Most if not all of the replies were in disagreement: It was unfair. No mention of Korea.

What a BIG surprise! I thought there were 700k shameless whinny Koreans , now doubled? What a shameful of a society Korea have become? 100%t Mr.Teriyaki is a Korean " Japanese national wanna be , Korean role-player". A lot of ultra nationalist Koreans over the internet use fake Japanese aliases to relieve the insecurities they feel towards Japan.

chucky3176FEB. 21, 2014 - 09:58PM JST were all the judges Russian? No. One Russian who was married to the head of Russian figure skating organization. And one Ukurainean who was caught for fixing a match in 1998 and suspended for one year. And here's another proof. 7 out of 9 judges gave Yuna Kim higher marks. But coincidentally, 2 judges consistently gave much much higher scores to the Russian skater, while consistently marking down Yuna Kim's scores. So how did only 2 judges able to overcome 7 other judges? By inflating the score of the Russian skater to the point, the Russian skater couldn't possibly lose. look at the scores and look at the evidence. Is this just coincidence that two judges gave the Russian enormous points? http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/02/21/2014022102082.html

Thank you! It shows how biased the 7 judges were.

Eiji TakanoFEB. 23, 2014 - 04:21AM JST toshiko, do you know any non-Japanese (or Chinese) who have such harsh and over-the-top views against Koreans? And this guy says blaming the Japanese and demanding we give them compensation Which suggests that he is Japanese. OssanAmerica is certainly Japanese. genjuro sounds like a Japanese netouyo from 2chan.

Let's see. We can tell someone's race based on their opinions. Ahem, NO WONDER! LOL.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Eiji TakanoFEB. 23, 2014 - 05:29AM JST Ossan claims to be an American, but he defends kamikaze pilots that attacked Americans. He is a Japanese right winger. No American writes like him. Most people aren't outright hostile towards Koreans, Japanese or Chinese except for themselves. Look at this comment, this is a typical comment that you see in the west, as racism is at least a no no. @Minjung Kim These racist comments that others are making are disgusting and distasteful. They are rude. Please try and not let it get to you Minjung Kim. Ignore these comments. Some of them are just insults by drunken/drugged up fools who make NO sense what-so-ever. Shame on them! Sadly there will always be these types around. The South Korean girl Yuna Kim, deserved gold but in an interview said she has moved on, unlike the skating community. Not ALL people are racist ONLY the morons of the world. http://nypost.com/2014/02/21/1-5-million-sign-petition-suggesting-putin-fixed-figure-skating/ You see almost no hostile comments towards Koreans on that page. Here, too many.

None sense! Defending an argument and their belief is a result of their racial origin? B.S. So, that makes you Korean because you defend Korea? Quite a questionable quotient of intelligence you have. Here, I give you an example. An American defending Japan. http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmnwLDFfH0x9AC7kzZqbOLg

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Relax, judges will have to make some South Korean figure skater to win in the next Olympics. Once they judge in your favor, once in faavor of the other party. In the end it comes to 0. Putin will surely laughs at the flood of Korean users spamming his Facebook account.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

gelendestrasse, I was saying the same thing. I never heard of a perfect judging system.

After the short program, I knew that Yuna Kim was not going to repeat. If Sotnikova skates clean, the gold was hers to lose. Yuna didn't skate like the way she did back in 2010. Her program in Sochi is a little more conservative compared to 4 years ago, and Sotnikova's program went all out.

Yeah, I agree that Sotnikova's score was a bit inflated, but it didn't matter. She was skating in front of her home crowd so it was going to be inflated.

If Yuna really wanted to repeat, she would have stayed with Brian Orser, but she wanted a life and cash in her success.

Koreans never cheated. Ask Roy Jones Jr. when he was cheated out of his gold medal to a Korean fighter. By the way, there was proof that the KOC bribed the judges to select the Korean fighter, but we all knew who won. People forget about Anthony Hembrick, when a Korean shuttle driver got lost and took him to wrong arena, which resulted to a disqualification for Anthony Hembrick when he was supposed to fight a Korean fighter.

I can't imagine the next Winter Games in Korea. I'm not going to be surprised to see how bad the Koreans will cheat. Much like how I wasn't so surprised about Yuna Kim losing to the Sotnikova on Russian soil. I'm pretty sure that Sotnikova will retire, since she won the gold. So all eyes will be hating Julia Lipnitskaia

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Two footing is different to falling and only results in a minor reduction. Kim clearly didn't have enough meat in her routine to score the points necessary. Just because I can walk in a straight line with perfect poise doesn't mean I'll beat someone over the same distance who runs imperfectly. Kim's routine was flawless because it was safe, too safe clearly.

Ultimately, there were 9 judges, and the marks of the other 7 would have outweighed the allegedly corrupt two. This is just bitterness, and you don't hear Kim complaining. Why? Because she's a sportsperson, and a sportsperson acts with dignity when they lose, unlike these "fans."

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Lets hear from a champion who forgot more about the sport than any of us ever knew.

"It was totally fair," said Elvis Stojko, a two-time Olympic silver medalist from Canada. "Adelina was ready. Kim didn't have enough technical ammunition".

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Just today I heard that an ex-PM of Japan lashed out at their star athlete for failing to win. I didn't see you slamming Japan for that story either..

Well, Mitch, as you said, the ex-PM was slamming their own player. Since we all know that players are supported by coaches, strategists and docs these days despite Olympics being claimed to be for amateurs, in a sense he is slamming Japan's whole system as well.

At the very least, the PM is NOT demanding a recount because he feels it was unfair. He is blaming his own team, not the world. It isn't great but it is a step up...

While it's a predictable Korea-bashing comment from a hater, claims of inflated scores for the Russian skater are coming from various sources including former national team coaches, former judges, sports writers, and former Olympic champions.

What kind of comment (from your article) is this?

"That's not fair to see Carolina and Yuna, who have great skating skills and had great skating tonight -- good jumps, nice presence on the ice, maturity, expression -- could be six points behind somebody who has tremendous skill but is just coming out of juniors," said Gwendal Peizerat, the 2002 ice dancing gold medalist from France, who is a television commentator here.

This fella cannot point to specific flaws. It sounds as if his/her main objection is that someone who is that young cannot win.

"Isn't it sad that I automatically thought that? Not one person in skating I've talked to said that's the way it should have gone."

Yes, it says something about you as a human being. I mean, if you can point to specific flaws or problems, sure. But

I just presumed Sotnikova was going to get a boost (in points) because this was in Russia

??? WTF Audrey?

@chucky

One Russian who was married to the head of Russian figure skating organization. And one Ukurainean who was caught for fixing a match in 1998 and suspended for one year. And here's another proof. 7 out of 9 judges gave Yuna Kim higher marks.

When you get to the top level, it gets harder and harder to find people who don't have a relation somewhere. Besides, I'm sure most people were counting that one as "biased" the moment they read the "R", not the "m".

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I feel Kim Yuna deserved to win the gold. However my humble memory brought me back Spain lost SK unfairly back in 2002 World Cup of soccer match. The goal scored was not rewarded. It was the influence of high ranking Korean official of FIFA, Now a days Spain is unbeatable in soccer. Spain is consistent in winning for Euro or World Cup.

ROK will move forward like Spain as unbeatable free ice skating nation in the future.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Definitely something in that fermented red stuff. You could see this article coming from a mile away.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

700,000 petition signatures? Is that unique signatures?

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Of 4 judges, 1 is Russian, 1 is Ukrainian - that gives an appearance of 'not right'. The Ukrainian had been cited for past score fixing.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The result was the combined scores over two days. Adelina's performance on the first day was really original, young, vivid, eye-catching, modern and international. Twice Russian champion, she also had the suss factor behind her towards the Russian skating federation who had previously passed her over. The Russian and international crowds loved her for this too.

I agree that on the second day, the final was probably much closer than expressed in those scores, but I do not think that Kim Yuna, despite being almost perfect, in a mature and beautifully Korean way, would have been able by her performance on that day alone to overturn an overall two-day result. She skated her very best and it was wonderful, I totally agree. Judged solely by the heart, she was the golden winner by far.

If I had a complaint, then perhaps the combined scores should have been much closer than that. Sometimes the judges in their haste to make a distinction clearer may mark slightly higher and slightly lower, in this case creating perhaps too wide a gap.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Asking for fairness in figure skating is like asking for life to be fair. Sad but there you are. Arbitrary and capricious is more like it!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

There is no such thing as a perfect system.

I'm pretty sure IOC will be careful, because it's like drug testing. They always find new ways to improve and get better.

When the KOC cheated extremely bad during the Seoul Olympics in 1988. They made many changes to make the system better in boxing. The 3 judges who selected Park Si Hun over Roy Jones Jr., they all got suspended and 2 of the judges got banned for life because they accepted bribes from the KOC to select Park Si Hun. Even he admitted that he lost that fight to Roy Jones Jr.

http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2010/06/03/top-10-blown-calls/slide/roy-jones-jr-vs-park-si-hun-1988/

1 ( +5 / -4 )

funny I hardly see Japanese people's comment here,

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Carolee Thumma I couldn't have agreed more.

Yuna did skate beautifully so people got a bit carried away from the difficulty of her program.

I relied on what Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir said on their analysis. Adelina Sotnikova skated a much more difficult program than Yuna. If Sotnikova fell, then the gold is Yuna's. She didn't fall so it was her gold to lose.

Maybe the scores were a bit high. Not just Adelina Sotnikova, but Yuna Kim and Kostner's scores were a bit inflated as well.

I started to show more respect for Yuna Kim in the way she handled her defeat.

I am not a fan of Adelina Sotnikova. I didn't even know who she was until she won the gold. Most gold medalist are usually the ones you least expect. Much like Shizuka Arakawa.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Just as expected, koreans have started trolling Adelina's Facebook page :

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/02/27/adelina-sotnikovas-facebook-page-plastered-with-unflattering-photoshopped-images/

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Well, Olympics is always a steep competition in the greatest spectacle of sports. On the other hand, in winter Olympics, you get points on how you slide! So, tough luck!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

And this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/sports/olympics/adelina-sotnikovas-upset-victory-is-hard-to-figure.html

0 ( +2 / -2 )

And this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/sports/olympics/adelina-sotnikovas-upset-victory-is-hard-to-figure.html

I tried to read this article, but it's boring. It looks like blah-blah-blah, i can't realize how it be, blah-blah-blah. At least comment show that there is no single opinion between people. Some people likes Sotnikova's performance, other people Yuna's. People trying to discuss. But in Korean discussions there is mass anti-Russian hysteria with confusing Lipnitskaya and Sotnikova, with some weird korean worldplays and other creepy shit.

Infographics at least show's difference between performance and trying to explain why Sotnikova beat Yuna, not just blah-blah-blah.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

@marni02

If you can find a similar example from an Olympics held in South Korea more recently than '88, be my guest.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

@ hidingout you finally wrote something that I can agree with! If I can recall when the Olympics was held in Seoul Korea the Koreans judges didn't hide their out right favoritism for their fellow countrymen even if an event was close they favored their countrymen and they won the event. Boxing was really flawed and you have a good point I can't see why they are crying accept the lost and we already know what will happen when the athletes return to the next winter Olympics in Korea so don't be surprised!

@dcog9065 700,000 petition signatures? Is that unique signatures?

I wonder if they were forged?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Who cares if it's Korea, Japan, China, France, Russia, Germany, Canada...

Sore losers and sore losers. Seen enough of them in my time to know them. At least Asada had some dignity in her failure, unlike the American skater who also moaned. There's no place in sport for people like that.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Both skaters, Korean and Russian, performed flawlessly but Adelina Sotnikova showed more difficult-to-perform elements of skating. That's all. There is no reasons to whine and cry.

The fact is there is a controversy, even most skating professionals felt there was a discrepancy in the scores. Its a point of contention that should be reviewed. How is that whining or crying? I doubt anyone truly understands the amount of effort that these athletes put in to train themselves for these events. Most folks figure its only just a good night's entertainment.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

There are people who write their opinions like Mitch and chuckie. we may argue but we don;t write to protect a particular country. I just happened to like Korean people protesting judging procedures. nothing to do with my nationality or where I live. Back to topic, don't you like this protest news?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

It's fair, it's legal and it's fact. And before anyone yells bias, I was rooting for Mao Asada & Polina Edmunds. I've always loved Asada's skating and I'm hoping to see more of Polina Edmunds in the future, she has such beauty and class. Never saw Adelina Sotnikova before, and I've been a fan of Yu Na's for years.

This was not cheating. It was totally fair. In skating it comes down to the numbers you enter the competition with. Each move/jump has an assigned number to it, if you mess up then that number will drop. Both skaters did very good.

BUT...here's the problem, Adelina Sotnikova entered with a MUCH HIGHER technical level of difficulty. Kim Yu Na's level was lower. On paper the only way the Adelina Sotnikova could lose was if she didn't hit her marks...but she did and she did it brilliantly and won.

I think the problem was Yu Na skated with much more beauty, people are going on the visual, not the logic. Visually Yu Na was stunning, logically she didn't do as many jumps as Adelelina did.

bec

0 ( +0 / -0 )

No wonder Yuna's retiring. I don't blame her. Seeing how the people in her nation behaves, by trashing into Sotnikova's facebook. It's a bit childish.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Kungaa Mergen - Let's say I accept the tecnical numbers, but to say that Kim was only .09 better in skill and artistry is really hard to believe. And Leib doesn't explain how Adelina got such a high score in her short program. Additionally the score of Yulia-135.34, can we you agree with that? It's not only about Yuna Kim, I really think Asada and Carolina they also did better performances than Adelina.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Olympics:a sport event? Ahahahah!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I'd bet IOC will review, again, its game judging procedure, thanks to Korean people's opinions. And many countries will begin to check their sports associations' activities. Some people have to voice, I believe.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

I hope Japan will replace Mori by one of former Olympic participants Maybe from this Olympic. Maybe it is time to have younger people. Nothing wrong to have ladies in JOC committee. Korea has female for the top politician. At least Japan should have female committe members. Also I hope Japanese people learn from Korean people's attitudes. Japanese people can complain Olympic judgements, too.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Again, silly event ... but you knew after they Ruskies lost in Hockey it was a shoe-in for the little commie gal to win gold. I mean when you bet you're whole Olympics on Hockey and it doesn't pay off ... ahem.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

It's fact four new judges were called in for the long program. It's fact the Russian judge is married to the head of the Russian Skate Federation, and it's fact the Ukrainian judge was cited for score fixing in 1998.

There's plenty enough reason to give the scoring a thorough investigation and I'm not making a blanket statement like, Oh, there goes them tricky Russians again! Every big Country with clout has cheated at least once. If there's cause to search for truth, I say search.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

I admit I'm not a Kim fan, but I was somewhat perplexed myself as why the Russian skater got first. Kim's performance was nearly flawless but the Russian skater fell during her routine. Things seemed highly suspicious to me. It turns out one of the judges was suspended! for trying to rig the 1998 Nagano Olympics!!!

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

100% I support the judges decision at awarding Sotnikova the Gold Medal.

You also agree with allowing 1 judge who was suspended for trying to fix the 1998 Nagano Olympics and one judge being married to the former president of the Russian Skate Federation on being on the judge panel?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I totally understand how Korea feels. I saw a couple of performances where Russian skaters just fell not once but twice but somehow they still stay within the top 3.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Judges of the Russian part

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

"Angry Koreans" .... pretty much says it all. How many stories have we seen in these Olympics about "angry Koreans"? Koreans are angry that their own countryman (Mr Ahn) preferred to skate for Russia and win gold. Koreans are so angry that an mistake by a British skater (Elise Christie) cost their side a gold that "fans" trashed her and threatened her to the point she had to take down her twitter and fb pages. Now koreans are angry that their darling didn't deliver the gold medal they assumed was their birthright.

@hidingout - Koreans were not angry at Ahn the skater, but were calling for officials in the KSU to be held accountable. When Ahn won the gold, most comments I saw were of glee, at Ahn's vindication. I recently posted a link to an article that 70% of Koreans responded they wanted to see Ahn win the gold by beating a Korean skater and embarrass the KSU.

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=115&oid=449&aid=0000008093

Korean netizens did trash the British skater's FB account which was a low act, but why judge a whole country by the actions of a small group? Do a few hundred arsehats represent the whole country? Do the Japanese netizens posting abusive comments about Japanese athletes that didn't win medals represent Japan? I didn't see you slamming Japan in this story:

http://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/rabid-japanese-fans-label-athletes-who-dont-bring-home-a-medal-tax-thieves

I'm not proud of Koreans petitioning for review of scores. There has been a trend lately where the old Korean tendency to regard 2nd place as failure was giving away for a more mature approach to the games, but this incident shows we still have a long way to go.

As Korea matures athletes' performance will be taken for what it is, and linked to national pride, but Korea is not alone in this. Just today I heard that an ex-PM of Japan lashed out at their star athlete for failing to win. I didn't see you slamming Japan for that story either..

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

Hopefully, this will makes IOC will be very very careful in selecting judges for each sport.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

So Im wondering, were all the judges Russian? And if so, why is a global event not judged by members from various countries, would make the judging system a bit more fair imo

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

kingris says who cares.... but seems like he cares enough to make a comment... belligerent and rude but still care enough to make a posting.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

I have often been critical of the judges in my JT comments ... and rapped for my thoughts ... but again I feel they leaned too much the wrong way.

I had been telling friends since late last year that a Russian would probably win a gold in figure skating ... mainly because the contest is being held in Sochi, on home ice. Advantage to the home town skater. The same would probably be true if the Olympics were held in South Korea and, for a Japanese winner despite their messy skating, here in Japan.

I still question all those extremely high scores in the men's figure skating section. Something just didn't add up properly ...

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

They can rant and whine until they're red in the face, but it's not going to change the medal standings.

There is precedence, for example the 2002 figure skating scandal that resulted in 2 gold medals being awarded. It won't happen this time though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Winter_Olympics_figure_skating_scandal

Ah South Korea's victim complex.. No doubt they will soon be blaming the Japanese and demanding we give them compensation over this.

While it's a predictable Korea-bashing comment from a hater, claims of inflated scores for the Russian skater are coming from various sources including former national team coaches, former judges, sports writers, and former Olympic champions.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/brennan/2014/02/20/winter-olympics-games-sochi-figure-skating-women-yuna-kim-gracie-gold/5643143/

I'm not condoning the petition movement, in fact I'm embarrassed by it. However people need to understand that the claims aren't entirely baseless and a product of some 'victim complex'.

-5 ( +5 / -10 )

lot of korea haters here. american media has sided with kim fyi

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Wow lots of harsh hostile comments from Korea haters... What if this was to happen to Japan where there is a clear discrepancy in scoring? Points called "GOE" Grade Of Execution was clearly abused by the Russians to inflate their points while deflating the Korean's... Russian skater was NOT penalized when she missed her entrance of her first Tripple Lutz Toe which was supposed to be backward outside edge entrance which is minus 3pts... but she was given plus 3pts instead... while Korean's score was deducted for executing the jump flawlessly.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

hidingout: "Did you read any news of Japanese or Americans threatening other athletes with physical harm, leaving the victim fearful enough to take down her twitter and fb pages?"

With the new secrecy laws you certainly wouldn't hear about it in the J-media. As for blogs and homepages, we only have to look at past articles of Japanese even demanding/threatening their own athletes, or haters on here crying about others winning, to see that they exist.

"Have you read any news of Americans or Japanese crashing the servers at change.org with hateful comments and demands to be instated as the gold medal winner? "

.org? No, but I've read plenty on at least one American athlete saying hateful comments about the judges at Sochi and that they've ruined the sport, and heard from plenty, plenty of angry fans saying more of the same here and elsewhere. But go ahead and blame everything on SK, as usual. I have absolutely zero doubt that come 2018 you'll be questioning the judges at every turn based on where the Olympics are taking place.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

KIM really deserves Gold. I'm not angry, but regret the judges decision. Kim's performance is flawless and artistically very high standard. I've predicted that KIM would take Gold, but not less. Sad for KIM!!!

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

toshiko, do you know any non-Japanese (or Chinese) who have such harsh and over-the-top views against Koreans?

And this guy says

blaming the Japanese and demanding we give them compensation

Which suggests that he is Japanese.

OssanAmerica is certainly Japanese.

genjuro sounds like a Japanese netouyo from 2chan.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

There were 9 judges in all, not 4.

Why did they have a Russian judge married to their figure skating organizer's head, judging? Isn't this conflict of interest? Why did they have a Ukuranian judge who was caught for fixing in the past, and former criminal judging the event? Isn't this like giving your money to a former bank robber?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/brennan/2014/02/20/winter-olympics-games-sochi-figure-skating-women-yuna-kim-gracie-gold/5643143/

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

but the Russian skater fell during her routine.... She didn't fall! That was the other Russian. Geez!

She two-footed her jump...Olympic gold should be based on excellence. Gold medalist should skate at the bare minimum, error-free. Yuna skated clean and Sotnikova did not.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

were all the judges Russian?

No. One Russian who was married to the head of Russian figure skating organization. And one Ukurainean who was caught for fixing a match in 1998 and suspended for one year. And here's another proof. 7 out of 9 judges gave Yuna Kim higher marks. But coincidentally, 2 judges consistently gave much much higher scores to the Russian skater, while consistently marking down Yuna Kim's scores. So how did only 2 judges able to overcome 7 other judges? By inflating the score of the Russian skater to the point, the Russian skater couldn't possibly lose.

look at the scores and look at the evidence. Is this just coincidence that two judges gave the Russian enormous points?

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/02/21/2014022102082.html

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

look at the Russian judge in question, hugging the Russian winner congratulating her, right after the judge gave out the fixed scores which gave her athlete the gold medal.

http://gall.dcinside.com/board/view/?id=yeona&no=472800&page=2

If this isn't a fix, then I don't know what is.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

So, it has now garnered 1.5 million signatures:

"Sochi 2014: 1.5m sign petition calling for inquiry into figure skating gold"

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/21/sochi-2014-south-korea-russia-figure-skating-gold-sotnikova-kim-yuna

On the commenting section, there are almost no mentions of Korea. Most either agreed that it was unfair, or didn't care. Except for one comment by "teriyaki", who is probably a Japanese:

Korean 'netizens' are often over the top and on the edge of being pathetic... I think some of these guys need a reality check. I think the bigger 'scandal' was that Lipnitskaya's deeply flawed free program was awarded more points than Asada's performance with 8 triple jumps considering that technical aspects were stressed as the main aspect of favoring Sotnikova over Kim and Kostner...

Most if not all of the replies were in disagreement: It was unfair. No mention of Korea.

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

@The Original Wing - Seoul Olympic 88? A boxing game from 26years ago comes out for this? It looks like there is one american who is MORE angry than koreans. C'mon it's time to forget.

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

hidingout (et al): "Angry Koreans" .... pretty much says it all. How many stories have we seen in these Olympics about "angry Koreans"?"

Oh, please! You don't know how many times since Wednesday I've had to hear: "Mao did badly because of the order of skating and because of judging (but in Hanyu's case the judging was perfect!)", "Mao did badly in her first run because the President of South Korea was using tactics to have the media ask her many questions!". "Uemura should have gotten bronze. The judging was terrible!". "In the women's hockey game against Russia, Japan scored but they didn't count it, so Russia won", etc. etc. etc.

To suggest that questioning is limited to South Koreans and that that 'says it all' only really says it all about you. Americans have complained about figure skating judging as well, with some very scathing comments by one or two skaters, in fact. Are you going to say, "That says it all" about Americans? Trust me, if Hanyu had lost by a few points to a Russian skater you'd be among those questioning it in Japan as well, and with good reason given the questionable judging after the Russian woman fell but Kim skated perfectly.

-10 ( +0 / -10 )

hidingout

Why the need to act as if "the whole world" were on your side, when if anything the actions of ROK "fans" have turned most of the world off?

I don't think that has any truth behind it.

-12 ( +2 / -14 )

Yes, this judgement was totally unfair. Please help to sign the petition for unfair judgements in sports. https://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/international-skating-union-isu-open-investigation-into-judging-decisions-of-women-s-figure-skating-and-demand-rejudgement-at-the-sochi-olympics

-15 ( +2 / -17 )

hidingout

"Angry Koreans" .... pretty much says it all. How many stories have we seen in these Olympics about "angry Koreans"?

Your hatred of anything Korea says it all.

-17 ( +7 / -24 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites