China wins gold in women's 3,000-meter relay short-track speedskating; U.S. wins bronze

China won the gold medal in the women's 3,000-meter relay short-track speedskating final at the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Wednesday after four-time defending champion South Korea was disqualified.

The South Koreans crossed the finish line first, but after a long discussion among the referees, they were disqualified for interference.

The U.S. team of Allison Baver (Sinking Spring, Pa.), Alyson Dudek (Hales Corners, Wis.), Lana Gehring (Glenview, Ill.) and Katherine Reutter (Champaign, Ill.) won the bronze medal. Canada won silver.

It is the first medal for the U.S. women in the relay since 1994.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

Comments

[Shawn Patrick]

Korea got ripped off. What were they supposed to do during the race? If anything, Korea should have been rewarded the silver medal as Canada and the US were hopelessly behind. Maybe Korea can protest the decision. Just awful

[Del]

The Korean girl beat the Chinese to the turn and got inside position. She owns the inner lane. The Chinese girl actually ran into the Korean because she was going for it too. The Korean girl doesn't have to move out of the way for everone else. It's ludicrous.

You know the referee made the wrong call because the tv announcer said it was incidental contact. Also, the Chinese didn't even think anything of the incident. If you look at the replay, its obvious. That referee should be disqualified from competition, not the Koreans. And they should have gotten Gold, not silver.

[B Dolan]

I really don't understand how Korea got disqualified. They were on a change, out in front and the Chinese bumped into the Koreans from behind in the turn. I don't get how you're supposed to "give way" in a passing situation. Doen't seem sportsman-like to me. Neither the Canadian or US coverage dummied it down for this dummy to understand. I'm pleased with the silver for the Canadians though...

[steven lee]

Total bogus call.... look at the replays people! The obstruction came from the chinese lady. Korean skater started on the inside lane and was slightly in front of the chinese skater, so how is it that she is disqualified for pushing?? Where is the pushing??

Clearly the referees were split about the decision.... i guess the main referee must own a lot of chinese stocks.

If the situation were reversed where the Chinese women were in Korean skaters' place and were disqualified, I can honestly say that, while probably not so outraged, I would still acknowledge that they were robbed :)

Sorry, Korean ladies, you guys were clearly robbed.

[steven lee]

korea got robbed man... the main referee is either chinese or owns a lot of chinese stocks... crazy.

[Cambiot]

This decision makes no sense - slo-mo replay clearly shows that the Chinese skater was at fault. Yet another example of how international sports officials continue to kowtow to the Chinese.

[joe macy]

the koreans looked real stupid for celebrating too early LOL

[Anon]

Yet another controversy surrounding Koreans and their well-deserved medal. The Korean skater was visibly ahead of the Chinese one, and seemed to skate as normally as she could. This was an absurd call.

This is the same referee who disqualified the Korean skater in favor of Ohno in 2002. Coincidence? I don't think so.

[Steve]

Sorry Korea. You deserver the Gold.

[SB]

Honestly I want to know how these referees are chosen.
This was an injustice that was CLEARLY shown from all angles on the replays. The Chinese girl tripped over her own skate and bumped into the Korean girl. The referee should be re-evaluated. Korea should have gotten a well-deserved GOLD, not silver or bronze. GOLD. Not to mention it really made me angry to see two teams who were hoping for Korea to get disqualified for their own selfish reasons . Where is the honesty anymore? Is there any way that this decision can be overruled?
This reminds me of the 2002 Ohno incident as well as the 2002 World Cup finals for Korea.

[Paul]

This was the worst call i've ever seen. I don't know much about the intricacies of short track, but in any other race the person who is in front and clearly has the inside lane almost ALWAYS has the right of way. Worst call ever.

[Michelle]

Completely unbelievable. Basically, what happened is that people who didn't even try hard enough to finish the race got a bronze medal while clear winners who gave their total best and finished first get nothing. I saw the footage many times and it is clear that the koreans were ahead on the inside lane when the chinese stepped into the korean...that is why she tripped up. Korea got robbed. What does the judge want the korean to do, stop? get pushed more inside(out of bounds)?, let the chinese climb all over her? WHAT?!?!

[Korean]

South Korea has a painful habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, their fault or not. I'm still recovering from the last second crash that cost Korea sweep at the podium. Considering just how good they are, it was just heartbreaking to watch.

And I'm still wondering why Korean WBC coach didn't walk Ichiro.

[Kim]

I think that there should be a formal investigation done by the olympic committee. This call was completely wrong and suspicious. Further, it is not a small error...this is people's lives. They have spent there entire life training for the olympic moment. By incorrectly disqualifying in favor of the chinese, they have ruined people's life. I am outraged. I don't think the Korean olympic commitee should remain silent about this. There have been mistakes and suspicious decisions by judges in the past. The mistake should be rectified.

[Sam]

This makes me not want to watch the Olympics. I'm totally cool with accepting a fair loss and congratulating a true winner. But this isn't right! It's like a game, "HIT A KOREAN AND WIN A GOLD". This almost seems like a dirty trick to rack up the US medal count. How do you go about protesting something like this?

[Brian Wu]

The korean girl did push the chinese, if you look at the video, you can clearly see that.
Besides, the judges are at the best position to tell whether or not the Koreans should be disqualified, and they made the decision after a long review, how can they "steal" the medal from the Koreans in such an event which would be absolutely reviewed by millions of audiences again and again? If they do so, then they are CRAZY...

[Ken]

Disqualified for INTERFERENCE, IMPEDING, or PUSHING???

I really would like to see where that happened in that race and the CLEAR reason for disqualification!!!
Clearly, as we all have seen numerous re-plays, korean skater was out infront and chinese skater was behind her and chinese skater's right skate CLEARLY bumped into korean skater's left skate.
I also would like to mention that this same referee, James Hewish, also disqualifed another Korean skater, Kim Dong Sung, back in Salt Lake City which was also a very controversial decision.
There's no doubt on strong skaters from China and Canada and they all skated WELL, however, when can we expect the fair judging from these referees regardless the status of countries. It would have been different outcome if korean skater was behind the chinese skater and I am sure korean still would have disqualified for bumping into chinese skater. Something to think about??
I wish and hope koreans can protest the decision but I just learned that they no longer have that rule to protest. Is that true?
Anyway, it is an awful decision but WHOLE nation know that korean skaters are still in TOP!!!

[Sean Lee]

The lead referee that disqualified the Korean girl's team is Jim Hewish. Coincidentally the same referee that awarded Ohno the gold over Korean Kim Dong-Sung in another highly controversial call. The Olympics should be greater than a single individual's biases and prejudices. Very happy that the American team won the bronze... but this isn't figure skating... speed skating medals are meant to be won, not given away.

[fluid]

Nope, the referee is fair and correct, Korean team should be disqualified ans here are the reasons..

"
Bian Weihua: deputy judge of short track speed skating at Vancouver Games

It was a rarely seen pass. Skaters usually pass before the curve because there is much space to avoid physical contact. Kim Min-jung passed Sun Linlin nearly at the tip of the curve from the inner lap. It was the last resort of South Korea as they were desperate for the gold (only four laps left of the 27-lap race). It reminded me of the Turin Games four years ago when China was disqualified in this discipline because of Wang Meng's fault. She tried to pass at the same position.

Li Yan: chief coach of China's short track speed skating team

We were leading after the push exchange when only four laps were left. The South Korean tried to make a straight cut when her blade nudged Sun Linlin's and affected her route. Sun was timed about 8.9 seconds during the former laps but the collision left her an over-one-second deficit. The judging was reasonable because it was the final moment and a fault like this can affect the result.

Yang Yang (A): former short track speed skater and IOC member

The South Korean affected Sun Linlin's route at a very crucial moment when China had the chance to win. The fault judging may not have come if it happened during the starting laps. The ISU (International Skating Union) ruled that the skater trying to pass takes the full responsibility when there is physical interference. Sun Linlin was skating in her route when nudged by Kim Min-jung outside.

"

[Tommy]

What's funny is one of the speed skaters from the US was crying after they found out they won the bronze medal. Why are you crying? You were a half lap behind the lead! Not anywhere close to contention for a medal. I would not be honored to take a bronze medal because of a DQ. Especially when you're not even close to 3rd position. S. Korea deserved the gold. She def had the inside lane. She couldn't have done anything different. Was she suppose to move and let the chinese in? If this is how this sport is played out, i'll probably never watch it again.

[Lucy]

Yes. Korean team should be disqualified. If you watch the video really carefully you should see that the Korean girl DID push the Chinese girl with her right hand. At that moment, as her pace of moving, her right arm was supposed to move to her front. But she let it stay hack and push the other girl skillfully. If there weren’t cameras from different angles then probably nobody would find out. But it is a high-tech world, too bad for the Koreans.

[Brought_Forward]

"Nope, the referee is fair and correct, Korean team should be disqualified ans here are the reasons."

The referee was in fact the exact opposite of that, and was recently suspended for a period of two years for his misjudgments.

The reasons you cited for the disqualifications were published in the state-run communist newspaper China Daily... which of course used the opinions of three Chinese citizens to justify the gold medal for China.

[Jake]

When you're the big dog everyone wants to take you down, that's just the nature of it. So the Koreans need to chill out, it happens.

It's funny how each side thinks it sooooo clear the other is in the wrong, lol. I like that one poster above that "proved" the Chinese side by posting 3 quotes, all from Chinese people, LOL. That's just dumb and discredits you.

Watch the video and see for yourself:
www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=658d3158-d8ce-4195-87ae-dc238d19e7c0.html#expert+analysis+short+track+day

What I see are two skaters turning into the curve at the same time. I would say (as the announcers did) that the benefit of the doubt should've gone to the inside skater.

[Anonymous]

I know the whole story here is whether the Koreans should have been DQed or not. Personally I think it was so small of an event that the judges should have just left it as a no call. But I think what everyone is failing to notice is what led to the US being half a lap behind. If you watch the race the US team was hanging in there, barely until about half way though. Watch the video. One lap they are in the front pack, the next they are a half lap behind. You will clearly see that during the exchange the canadian skater who had just finished the push drifts to her right, directly in front of the US skater how runs right into her. She lost all of her speed and the team, in a second was a half lap behind. They maintained that distance meaning, they maintained the same speed as the front runners. Perhaps Canada should have been the ones disqualified??

[Skeptic]

The Koreans, sons and daughters of the Mongols, had better dot every 'i' and cross every 't', because referee James Hewish will get them when they don't.