(John Ransom, Headline USA) Athletes from multiple countries are complaining that China is getting an unfair advantage at the Olympics, using COVID quarantines and questionable calls by meet officials to tilt the field to China.
In two events, China’s team won gold medals in skating after officials penalized other teams, according to Yahoo Sports.
“As has become the norm in these Olympic Games, the officials’ decision was met with confusion and polarization,” reported Yahoo. “The fact that this is the second time China has earned gold after their opponents were handed out penalties only added to the online ordeal.”
The Olympic Short Track Speed Skating officiating has been terrible.
Very suspicious based on who has benefitted from the reviews.
— Spencer (@SpeaksSports) February 7, 2022
Koreans are particularly incensed because two Koreans were penalized with disqualification in calls that some spectators called “suspicious.”
“Videos of Chinese skaters coming into contact with other skaters have since gone viral online,” reported TodayOnline. “Korean broadcaster SBS even aired a special segment titled Top 10 Worst Moments Of Cheating By China, which has fueled the anger online even further.”
Chinese netizens have said the Koreans should “go home and cry to their mothers instead.”
Earlier this week, Olympic athletes were complaining about the quarantine rules and the food served at quarantine facilities that have athletes losing weight.
“I’ve lost a lot of weight and my bones are sticking out,” wrote Russian skater Valeria Vasnetsova after posting a photo of a quarantine meal, according to USA Today.
“I can’t eat anything else, I don’t know anything about my corona tests,” Vasnetsova added, saying she didn’t even have the strength to get out of bed after the paltry food.
Others have also been left in the dark about their COVID tests, with many false positives suspected, which, not coincidentally, favor the Chinese Olympic team.
“Short track speedskater [Natalia] Maliszewska [of the Polish team] tested positive for coronavirus on Jan. 30,” said USAToday, “when she was ruled out of Saturday’s qualifying race for the 500 meters, her strongest event.”
The night before the qualifying event she was surprisingly released from quarantine, only to be returned to quarantine after testing positive again. The next day she tested negative again, but only after the event had taken place.
One Korean skater had warned about Chinese cheating even before the Olympics opened.
“In the days leading up to the Olympics,” said the Korea Herald, “[Korean skater] Kwak [Yoon-gy] had predicted that China would keep getting favorable calls as the host country.”
“Kwak said he’d also received some hate messages from angry Chinese people on his social media for suggesting that skaters from other countries would be disqualified for brushing past their Chinese counterparts,” added the Herald, which is exactly what gave the Chinese team one of the gold medals.
