There are a multitude of reasons why we are already over the Beijing Winter Olympics, but the hits just keep on coming.
First and foremost, it would be impossible to ignore the massive and unending human rights atrocities being committed by the Chinese Communist Party, which now includes the literal genocide of Uyghur Muslims in the region.
This, after decades of labor law negligence meant to exploit the human condition and wealth inequality in order to get a leg up on the global economy.
Now, in what might be one of the most awful-yet-unsurprising turn of events this week, China is now being accused of somehow procuring home field advantage at the Olympics themselves.
Controversy is shrouding the short-track speed-skating competition in Beijing just a few days into this year’s Winter Olympics.
Several questionable penalties in the sport have helped Chinese athletes advance or earn medals at the Games. And now, some are sounding alarm bells that bias among Olympic officials may be to blame.
South Korea’s Kwak Yoon-gy spoke out after Saturday’s short-track speed-skating mixed team relay, which saw China survive a semifinal race only after the disqualification of the Russian Olympic Committee and the US — both of which finished ahead of the host nation. After a video review, the ROC earned a penalty for “causing obstruction,” while the US was docked for “blocking.”
China would go on to take gold.
This wasn’t the only incident, either.
Two days later, another controversial ending left many challenging the legitimacy of certain short-track speed-skating results. The men’s 1,000-meter final, which featured three athletes from China and two from Hungary, came down to the wire — and then a video review.
A race stoppage — caused when a broken blade embedded in the ice — set the race on a bizarre path even before its chaotic conclusion. But in the end, the top of the podium came down to Hungary’s Shaolin Sandor Liu and China’s Ren Ziwei.
The two were neck and neck heading into the final turn, and each extended his legs in an attempt to narrowly edge the other while approaching the finish. Liu Shaolin tumbled to the ice and slid into the far wall as a result, but he appeared to cross the line mere milliseconds before Ren.
That’s when the review came into play. The Hungarian was assessed two penalties — one for a lane change that created contact with an opponent and another for using his left hand to obstruct Ren on the final turn. Though Ren retaliated by using both hands to grab Liu Shaolin and shove him down to the ice, he was not issued any punishment.
The result of that review elevated a Chinese skater into the silver medal slot.
While cheating at sports isn’t nearly as despicable or heinous as the other crimes that China has consistently committed, it certainly does paint a wonderfully detailed picture of the lack of character and class of the Chinese government.
