Short Track

[FiveRingFever]

Christie wasn't dq'd rather DNF because she cut a corner.

But the pundits don't agree...

[FiveRingFever]

I think Alvarez should have been advanced after taking one to the chops.

[Rob2012]

That is extrordinariliy harsh after such a brilliant race. Not liking that one at all. If the judges are bound by certain rules, fair enough, but is there no room for common sense within those rules?

[dancingbrogues]

1cm inside the line is harsh, but she should have made contact. I know there are now pictures of skaters who skated even more inside in other races and qualified, but that's a referee issue and doesn't make her infringement less. There was no appeal, Team GB did the right thing.

I hope she can keep concentration next week for her best event and not let the weight of expectations get to her.

Short track is a rollercoaster - look at Hamelin crashing out in the 1000m - several disqualifications, penalties and advances all round. It's pretty thrilling.

[Rob2012]

1cm inside the line is harsh, but she should have made contact. I know there are now pictures of skaters who skated even more inside in other races and qualified, but that's a referee issue and doesn't make her infringement less. There was no appeal, Team GB did the right thing.

You cannot (or at least wouldn't be wise to) appeal those kind of decisions apparently because she was outside the line by 1cm - it's black and white, but incredibly harsh because it made no difference to the outcome. It'd be like striking off a goal in football for a handball inside the centre circle - the punishment is in no way proportionate to the crime.

BBC's Ollie Williams also makes the point that if there wasn't a photo finish nobody would've noticed this, so by going for the win rather than skating through in second she's got herself DQed? So in future I guess skaters will be better off not being competitive in the heats just in case?

Sorry, but I think this needs looking at for future. Some common sense should surely be applied.

[Faster]

Unfortunately you cannot have a gray area with this. There is already rampant team skating that never gets called (clear examples by Russia, Korea and China just today alone). You start leaving things like this up to officials judgement and you will start to see more skaters cutting corners and going inside the line to gain an advantage. Resulting in a lot more challenges and controversy.

I've watched Olympic SSTS since 2002, doesn't make me an expert and I could be missing something. But this is the first example I can remember of this kind of penalty at the Olympics.

[Fox334]

Also, IIRC team skating is no longer against the rules. Specifically because it never got called since it was so hard to demonstrate.

[Gangwon]

What redemption for Viktor Ahn! Wins Russia's first short track gold while Korea continues to disappoint in short track. The South Korean President is now asking for an inquiry on why Viktor Ahn (formerly Ahn Hyun-Soo) left Korea for Russia, investigating possible factionalism and favouritism concerns.

http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/02/14/president-wants-to-know-why-south-korean-olympic-skater-became-russian/

What a drop for Korea. 6 golds and 10 medals in 2006 short track (Ahn responsible for 3 golds and 4 of those medals). 2 golds and 8 medals in 2010. In 2014, so far 0 golds and 2 medals, with only 3 events remaining where they can possibly medal. I'm happy for Ahn and tough **** for the Korean skating officials.

[FiveRingFever]

What redemption for Viktor Ahn! Wins Russia's first short track gold while Korea continues to disappoint in short track. The South Korean President is now asking for an inquiry on why Viktor Ahn (formerly Ahn Hyun-Soo) left Korea for Russia, investigating possible factionalism and favouritism concerns.

http://blogs.wsj.com/korearealtime/2014/02/14/president-wants-to-know-why-south-korean-olympic-skater-became-russian/

What a drop for Korea. 6 golds and 10 medals in 2006 short track (Ahn responsible for 3 golds and 4 of those medals). 2 golds and 8 medals in 2010. In 2014, so far 0 golds and 2 medals, with only 3 events remaining where they can possibly medal. I'm happy for Ahn and tough **** for the Korean skating officials.

Not to mention committing a crapload of fouls

[4gamesandcounting]

I think a lot of nations have caught up with Korea and put some money into their programmes. It's nice to see the sport open out a bit with medals across different nations rather than the old big 4.

[intoronto]

I think a lot of nations have caught up with Korea and put some money into their programmes. It's nice to see the sport open out a bit with medals across different nations rather than the old big 4.

Especially the Netherlands.

[Gangwon]

Hooray for exposés!

http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-79325636/

"I wanted to train in the best possible environment and I proved my decision was not wrong," said Ahn, who is regarded as one of the greatest short track speed skaters of all time.

He also hinted that he would lift the lid on the events that led him to leave his homeland in search of more Olympic gold

"I will share everything I had in mind after Sochi is over," said Ahn.

[Brekkie Boy]

Elise Christie easily the most hard done by athlete of these games and short track has been shown in a really bad light because of it. While Snowboard and Ski Cross wins fans Olympics after Olympics because of it's purity of the race being won by the first to cross the lines, short track is suffering from too many decisions being made by referees - and them able to disqualify people without any right of appeal and without even having to explain why they are disqualified. They also don't allow broadcasters to see the footage used to make such decisions, which is absolutely pathetic in this day and age.

The Olympics is supposed to be about the best of the best - and the athletes have been let down by a very poor standard of officiating at the Short Track and things really do need to change over the next four years so that races are won on the track, and should any decisions need to be made they are made absolutely clear to the athletes and the viewers.

[baron-pierreIV]

Re Viktor Ahn's story...that's quite a turn-around from Kitei Son's (the marathon winner in Berlin 1936) story when he was forced to compete under the flag of Imperial Japan but got the IOC to Koreanize his name in the Official Records, esp after Seoul hosted the 1988 Olympics. Maybe the KSU can get the IOC to add (Turncoat) to Viktor/Ahn Hyun-Soo's name in the records when 2018 rolls around.

[intoronto]

Elise Christie easily the most hard done by athlete of these games and short track has been shown in a really bad light because of it. While Snowboard and Ski Cross wins fans Olympics after Olympics because of it's purity of the race being won by the first to cross the lines, short track is suffering from too many decisions being made by referees - and them able to disqualify people without any right of appeal and without even having to explain why they are disqualified. They also don't allow broadcasters to see the footage used to make such decisions, which is absolutely pathetic in this day and age.

The Olympics is supposed to be about the best of the best - and the athletes have been let down by a very poor standard of officiating at the Short Track and things really do need to change over the next four years so that races are won on the track, and should any decisions need to be made they are made absolutely clear to the athletes and the viewers.

She didn't cross the line = DQ rightfully

She made a dangerous move = DQ rightfully

She impeded the Chinese athlete first = DQ rightfully.

[Rob2012]

Agree entirely with Brekkie Boy, the sport has come off extremely badly in its moment in the limelight. The first DQ was fair enough, the second was technically within the rules but was a punishment which absolutely didn't fit the crime (it'd be like striking off a goal in football for an accidental handball in the centre circle), and the third was such a small impedement and one that other athletes weren't DQed for in other heats that you have to wonder about consistency in the judging.

It's a sport that seems to have no room for common sense in its rulebook, and no consistency in the application of its rules across events. People who'd been in the sport for years were interviewed afterwards and they seemingly didn't know what was going on either, and with no right of appeal and camera angles broadcasters can't see, it all adds to a general picture of confusion.

It's fun to watch, but as a competitive sport it's come off extremely badly this week. One of the lowlights of this Games. It's a great shame when a minority sport has a chance to shine and just ends up turning everyone off in this way.

[Faster]

No it didn't. You are only saying that because she is British and there was probably some inept commentary on your broadcaster. Every single time someone got a penalty, the Canadian and American commentators were able to clearly explain the judging decision (because they were informed of it) and showed the same pictures that you could see the referees looking at on their touch screen monitor. I've watched short track for over a decade and could easily tell when an athlete was going to get a penalty almost every time. The only two I saw that got missed were Charles Hamelin in the preliminaries in the 1000m and the Korean women's relay team in the final.

Rob, what would have happened to Mo Farah if he had stepped on or just one foot outside of the metal ring that surrounds the inside of the athletics track? You get disqualified. In relays if you put a cm of your shoe on the line, you are disqualified. Skating outside the line is no different.

Christie wasn't hard done by, she screwed up 3 times and deserved what she got.

[Rob2012]

No it didn't. You are only saying that because she is British and there was probably some inept commentary on your broadcaster. Every single time someone got a penalty, the Canadian and American commentators were able to clearly explain the judging decision (because they were informed of it) and showed the same pictures that you could see the referees looking at on their touch screen monitor. I've watched short track for over a decade and could easily tell when an athlete was going to get a penalty almost every time. The only two I saw that got missed were Charles Hamelin in the preliminaries in the 1000m and the Korean women's relay team in the final.

Rob, what would have happened to Mo Farah if he had stepped on or just one foot outside of the metal ring that surrounds the inside of the athletics track? You get disqualified. In relays if you put a cm of your shoe on the line, you are disqualified. Skating outside the line is no different.

Ah yes, that's another thing! There are big , unmissable white lines on an athletics track showing you where to put your feet. In short track you're going a million times faster and there are only markers every few metres. Perhaps this needs looking at too. How is anyone meant to judge 1cm when there's nothing really to indicate it and the judges themselves need slo-mo to decide?

The BBC had guys who've been in the sport for 20+ years commentating as it happens, so that's not the reason. They had trouble explaining some of the decisions and making excuses for the vagaries of some of the rules. They said straight after Elise's first incident she'd almost certainly get a DQ, so it's not as though they were being biased either. It just seems that, when even the people within the sport can't explain what's going on, it's not going to come across very well to the public at large.

Yes, of course that fact that a British athlete was on the receiving end made it harder but I don't think, had you shown me those incidents and they'd happened to someone else, my opinion would be any different. There seem to be inconsistencies and a lack of common sense applied.

You're not going to change my opinion on this I'm afraid, sorry.

[Brekkie Boy]

Exactly Rob. If you could explain yesterdays DQ faster that would be appreciated because nobody the BBC interviewed about it could fathom it out and the ISU don't feel it necessary to explain themselves either.

I agree with Rob - the first DQ was unfortunate but everybody could understand why. The second was such a minor technicality where there was zero advantage gained and it's an insult to the sport that races like that are decided on such technicalities rather than on the race. Yesterdays though makes no sense at all - she was clearly the one taken out and at no other point during the race had she endangered another athletes position other than making race moves. The biggest insult though isn't that she was disqualified but that the explanation as to why she was disqualified wasn't forthcoming - it seems one person is judge, jury and executioner without the accused even knowing the supposed crime they've committed. I know this is Russia, but come on...