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South Korea protests women's figure skating result

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By BARRY WILNER

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Judging any artistic performance, be it ice skating or dancing is highly subjective. The judges obviously felt that, on the day, the Russian girl was better. Bad losers - if you can call a silver medal losing.

9 ( +13 / -4 )

When legends of the sport such as Katarina Witt describe Kim as "The real gold medallist", I tend to believe something dodgy has taken place. I doubt any appeal will succeed however - this is in Russia, remember!

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

Adelina is so young and cute. Congratulations to all them.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Much of the uproar over the women’s free skate centers on what many perceived as a lack of artistry in Sotnikova’s program.

From what little I understand about this whole thing (which does not interest me), Sotnikova is kind of a "backup" to another Russian girl (I think her name actually showed up on JapanToday one or two days ago but I already forgot it), so she probably wasn't allowed a particularly creative, high-risk program.

Presumably, Kim made some imperfection somewhere in her high-risk program.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Tbbird, agreed.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

technosphere

Katarina Witt skated in the 80's and she even tried to skate in the 94 games and realized that her style of skating would not score well in the 90's or the 21st Century.

Yeah, if Yuna Kim skated 20-30 years ago, she would have won the gold. I'm still baffled about why Mao Asada's score would only get her a bronze if she did not fall in the SP? No other female skaters can do a triple axel, why her score was only the 3rd best in the Free Program? Then again, I'm not a Figure Skating expert so what can I say?

By listening to NBC commentators Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir who are experts in figure skating. None of them complained about the scoring. They both said that Sotnikova's program is much more difficult compared to Yuna Kim. I personally thought Yuna Kim looked better skating, but I will trust what Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir's word and none of them thought the scoring was judgmental. The only complaint they had was the 5 point gap, but both commentators said Sotnikova skated better.

I had a feeling that one of the Russian skater will win the gold, but I believed it was Julia Lipnitskaia. She fell and was out of the picture. I never thought it would be Adelina Sotnikova to win the gold. I knew once the score was close in the short program, it was pretty much over and it was Sotnikova's to lose. She didn't falter and her program was considered more difficult than Yuna's so she deserved the gold.

I was not a Yuna Kim fan until she handled her loss with class. It's too bad that the majority of the Korean people are acting like rotten immature kids about it. No wonder the people are laughing at Koreans immaturity. If Yuna Kim can handle her loss with class, why can't the Korean people?

You are right technosphere what goes around comes around. Koreans act like they are a victim of foul play, but did they forget what they did back in Seoul. One was obvious when Roy Jones Jr. beat the cr@p out of Park Si Hun and even he admitted he lost to Roy Jones, but the KOC bribed the 3 judges. I'm not a boxing expert, but it was obvious that Roy Jones owned that fight. Then another incident happened with Anthony Hembrick when he was supposed to fight a Korean fighter back in Seoul 88, but somehow the Korean shuttle driver got lost and Hembrick was unable to make it to the match on time and the Korean fighter won by disqualification. Talk about dirty tactics.

Koreans have no rights to criticize others when they were cheating big time in Seoul. Unfortunately, it's too bad that Yuna Kim wasn't born when this happened, but who said life is fair?

14 ( +15 / -1 )

Alex80FEB. 23, 2014 - 08:33AM JST Adelina is so young and cute. Congratulations to all them.

Hey dude! I like her charm too ;-) . I like Kim Yuna too. But she needs improvement in the photo. Something like a monolid plastic surgery which most Koreans undergo.Just kidding.LMAO . She's fine.

"The ISU is strongly committed to conducting performance evaluations strictly and fairly and has adequate procedures in place to ensure the proper running of the sporting competitions,": the statement said. "The officiating judges were selected by random drawing from a pool of 13 potential judges. All judges in an event represent different ISU member federations. The ladies' free skating panel included judges from Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine."

After the judges, they will blame the ISU for sure.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

So is Sotnikova going to be the object of hatred in SK much like Apolo Ohno still is?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

By listening to NBC commentators Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir who are experts in figure skating. None of them complained about the scoring.

That is correct. I was going to say this but you beat me to it.

You are right technosphere what goes around comes around. Koreans act like they are a victim of foul play, but did they forget what they did back in Seoul. One was obvious when Roy Jones Jr. beat the cr@p out of Park Si Hun and even he admitted he lost to Roy Jones, but the KOC bribed the 3 judges. I'm not a boxing expert, but it was obvious that Roy Jones owned that fight. Then another incident happened with Anthony Hembrick when he was supposed to fight a Korean fighter back in Seoul 88, but somehow the Korean shuttle driver got lost and Hembrick was unable to make it to the match on time and the Korean fighter won by disqualification. Talk about dirty tactics.

Which kind of makes me wary because the next Winter Olympics will be in Korea. Given what Koreans have done and the tactics they've used in the past, will we see these kinds of incidents happen again? Seeing how they're such sore losers I'm afraid they'll resort to anything just to get gold.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Hey dude! I like her charm too ;-)

Ehm...I'm female. xD

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I'm surprised the Koreans haven't flooded the Russian Olympic Committee server. Maybe it's because they can't read Russian so they don't bother.

If Russian used Hangul or the alphabet, I'm pretty sure the hate mails would be flooding to Sotnikova.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Alex80FEB. 23, 2014 - 11:03AM JST Hey dude! I like her charm too ;-) Ehm...I'm female. xDhumor after

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Best comment of the Day. :):):):)

1 ( +2 / -1 )

If Russian used Hangul or the alphabet, I'm pretty sure the hate mails would be flooding to Sotnikova.

In that particular case, authors of emails would show nothing except stupidity.....

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Olympic official admits on newspaper, it was fixed.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/brennan/2014/02/21/figure-skating-scandal-sochi-olympics-adelina-sotnikova-yuna-kim/5680717/

Columnist interview on the fix and the figure skating's old boy's club

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrXvnv_a97U

Two Russian judges hugging and kissing Russian gold winning figure skater, and celebrating together

http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-judge-hugs-sotnikova-2014-2

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

Chucky....all those links are bias and have no relevance. Just opinions of a loser country. Judges have already provided an explanation for the score. sodnikova did more and was awarded gold for it. Simple and easy...and no matter how much the US and Korea hate russia will change the fact that they are simply better and thats why they won gold.

11 ( +13 / -2 )

TokyoDiman, most of the press I've read, or about 80% say it was a fix. These aren't S.Korea press I'm talking about, it's the press in US, UK, FRance, Germany, etc who are the loudest, in printing this story, who all say the same things. Are they all biased?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2565635/Pictured-Moment-17-year-old-Russian-figure-skater-got-HUG-home-judge-surprise-win-sparked-conspiracy-claims.html

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

@chucky3176

Two Russian judges hugging and kissing Russian gold winning figure skater, and celebrating together

So what ? In your country, ROK, people never hug each other simply because you have your own traditions of greetings and celebrations.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

What !!??? Korea playing the victim card again? .... Never heard of such a thing.

Take a look in the mirror at some of the completely dodgy things that happened when the Olympics were held in Seoul.

Not to mention the poor sportsmanship displayed not only there (i.e.: when one of their boxes lost - crowd assaulting references etc) but also in more recent sporting evens.

What a bunch of sore losers ..... get over it.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

technosphere, judges are supposed to show that they are unbiased, even if they are. It's not a good idea to immediately go back to the stage and hug and kiss the Russian skater and celebrate together. That gives off wrong impressions. Of course, if the South Korean judge did that with South Korean skater after winning, I'm sure all of Japan and here, would be in an uproar that this was fixed by South Korea.

Anyway, I'm not complaining about the figure skating decision. I really don't care who won or lost, I'm serious and I'm not bothered by that. I'm more bothered by the fact that everyone's bashing on Koreans as sore losers here, so I'm being defensive. You have to realize that most of the criticisms of the Russian judging at the figure skating seems to be coming from the Western press. It maybe that the people in the West don't like Russia so they're using this figure skating controversy as an excuse to bash on Russia as inferiors.

-9 ( +2 / -11 )

One wins another gets mad and points a finger. I don't like the Olympics because of all the politics.

Doesn't matter who wins if a nation's favorite loses that nations people will get mad and will cry foul.

I just hope that protests and violence will not follow this loss.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

-11 ( +2 / -13 )

chucky3176FEB. 23, 2014 - 01:10PM JST I'm more bothered by the fact that everyone's bashing on Koreans as sore losers here, so I'm being defensive.

No one is "Bashing" Koreans for being sore losers, we are simply stating that you "are" sore losers.

And that before you start complaining and playing the victim card "again" about how biased international judges are .... take an "honest" look in the mirror at some of the international competitions held in Korea (Olympics in particular) and you might discover why so many people complained about the "biased" judging and absolutely poor sportsmanship shown not only by Korean sportsmen but also by the local crowd. Terrible in some cases.

As a foot note, I would like to add that Yuna Kim was exceptionally dignified and gracious and has clearly risen above this whole thing.

She has done Korea proud, not only by her performance, but more importantly by showing her class as a true international sports person.

Her fellow citizen could learn a lot about grace and manners from this talented young woman.

Clearly she is nervous about performing in Korea at the next games (due to substantial local harassment) hence her "early retirement". It's a shame really.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

@chucky3176FEB. 23, 2014 - 01:10PM JST

It's not a good idea to immediately go back to the stage and hug and kiss the Russian skater and celebrate together. That gives off wrong impressions.

Only two judges did it. Other judges did not hug and kiss winner. If anyone thinks that those 2 judges were corrupt, what about other judges ?! How many judges voted for Sotnikova ?

6 ( +8 / -2 )

What's amazing is that Kim herself was gracious in defect but the Korean people undermind that with anger and childishness.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

Well technically not all Korean are up-in-arms over this but as usual the stupid ones are the most vocal and loud ones.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

How many judges voted for Sotnikova ?

According to the score sheets, only two gave the advantage to Sotnikova. The other seven all had given advantage to Kim. But the scores given by the two Sotnikova supporters, were so huge, that the average skewed towards favoring Sotnikova.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

Chucky the scores are anonymous how would you possibly know that?

6 ( +8 / -2 )

TokyoDiman, scores are not anonymous, you are totally wrong. The judges and their names are not anonymous either. The only thing that's anonymous are, which judge scored what.

Scores have been published here, and shows you why people think this was a fix. Again, this not sore loser Koreans complaining, it's the Western press again, so don't go off on the tangent and say animal Koreans are acting up again.

http://www.thewire.com/culture/2014/02/why-people-think-adelina-sotnikovas-figure-skating-gold-medal-was-rigged/358344/

-10 ( +4 / -14 )

TokyoDiman

Please. Last minute swapping of sympathetic judges (with prior records of cheating), one judge married to the head of the Russian Skating Federation, ridiculous number of +3 outliers, etc. It's indefensible. Kim AND Kostner were robbed. The Russians could at least have made more of an effort to make it look less damn obvious...

http://www.thewire.com/culture/2014/02/why-people-think-adelina-sotnikovas-figure-skating-gold-medal-was-rigged/358344/

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

genjuro, I already addressed that issue, please read the link I posted earlier. I know it won't change your Japanese centric mind, so it's for others. It's not like what is imagined here at all.

South Korea Puts Anger Aside After Olympic Skating Disappointment

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/world/asia/south-korea-puts-anger-aside-after-olympic-skating-disappointment.html?_r=0

-12 ( +1 / -13 )

Chucky wrote: Two Russian judges hugging and kissing Russian gold winning figure skater, and celebrating together

So what? Americans do that in public all the time. Just their custom. Just because it is not a custom of Japan or Korea does not mean they did wrong. That is not the reason SKOC . protesting.

In some countries, when two people kissed or hugged, on public, they are arrested. In some country, if people bow, they ask what is wrong with your neck. Russian did their custom. /Let us concentrate on why SKOC protested.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Kim Yuna was more beautiful than Sotonikowa. But Kim's program was much much easier than other skaters.

Sotonikowa made more jump than Kim. Sotonikowa's combination jump included triple jump although Kim Yuna did not. Therefore, Sotonikowa got much more basic points than Kim, which was very objective. Kim Yuna was the best 'artist', but not the best 'athlete'.

Although Sotonikowa's points are a little bit too much, I think Sotonikowa was right gold medalist.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

genjuro, I already addressed that issue, please read the link I posted earlier. I know it won't change your Japanese centric mind, so it's for others. It's not like what is imagined here at all. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/world/asia/south-korea-puts-anger-aside-after-olympic-skating-disappointment.html?_r=0

Yeah, Chucky. I skimmed that article and was hoping it to be objective. Actually shouldn't have bothered when I noticed the writer's name.

South Korea Puts Anger Aside After Olympic Skating Disappointment

By CHOE SANG-HUNFEB. 22, 2014

8 ( +8 / -0 )

@USNinJapan2

Please. Last minute swapping of sympathetic judges (with prior records of cheating), one judge married to the head of the Russian Skating Federation, ridiculous number of +3 outliers, etc. It's indefensible. Kim AND Kostner were robbed.

You have made a lot of assumtions. Also, I did not know that typical sore losers have ability to join in US naval forces in Japan. Do not whine and cry, "seaman" ;-)))

2 ( +3 / -1 )

4 ( +5 / -1 )

It's unfortunate that this "controversy' is overshadowing some wonderful performances in these Olympics. Sotnikova won fair and square. As mentioned before, many well-known skating experts have said that Sotnikova won it fairly. For instance, Scott Hamilton said that she did enough to win by taking advantage of the points system in place:

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/feb/21/judging-talk-overshadows-figure-skating-again/

Also, there is a complete explanation of why she won at this link:

http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2014/02/21/olympics-figure-skating-scoring-controversy-sotnikova-kim-gold-medal/

Yes, there were two questionable judges, but even if they gave such high scores, one of their scores was thrown out anyway since the highest and lowest scores are always disregarded, and the law of averages plays itself out in the end. Artistically, Kim may have had an edge, but technically, Sotnikova was better.

All in all, I agree with Yahoo writer Dan Wetzel, when he says 'enough already, Sotnikova beat Kim fair and square':

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/deal-with-it--south-korea--adelina-sotnikova-beat-yuna-kim-fair-and-square-152619212.html

5 ( +8 / -3 )

I feel bad for Yuna Kim, but I give her much more respect in the way she handled her defeat.

Why can't the majority of the Korean people accept this?

Russia thinks Sotnikova won, but the world knows that Yuna Kim is the real winner?

What is their meaning of the world? Koreans? Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir thought Sotnikova deserved the gold. Do they represent Russia?

6 ( +9 / -3 )

When legends of the sport such as Katarina Witt describe Kim as "The real gold medallist"

just heard Robin Cousins BBC commentator and former Gold medalist talk about it, he was very diplomatic. After watching Kim he said on air, " there you have it your champion" and then he bit his tongue and sure enough the result came up, Cousins in his booth look across at the other commentators from other broadcasters and they were all surprised or outraged - as Katarina Witt was apparently in her booth. 4 time world champ Kurt Browning was surprised.

That said, the hissy fit made by the rabid Korean pubic is embarrassing. The speed skating drama with Apollo Ohno, this, the soccer player and his Takeshima Island protest shirt, the crying athlete who held up olympic fencing matches for an hour, Roy Jones, now this - It's the "Boy who cried Wolf" from the notorious poor sports, yeah it was a close and possibly dodgy call, but no one is listening to you Korea.

Yu-na is all class. I wish her all the best. She's a multi millionaire with great English skills and is set for life.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

People are calling Koreans the crybabies, but everything I've read and heard about this astonishing turn of events has been through the western press, including highly regarded western experts and former champion skaters. Surely they know what they are talking about.

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

@TessaFEB. 23, 2014 - 05:25PM JST

People are calling Koreans the crybabies, but everything I've read and heard about this astonishing turn of events has been through the western press, including highly regarded western experts and former champion skaters. Surely they know what they are talking about.

And what they are talking about? They disliked the result? That's only their problem. They weren't judges.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Can any Japanese or the Japanophiles on this board tell me truthfully that they are satisfied that Asada Mao's performance in the free program (which included EIGHT triples) was worth far less than Sotnikova's? It's strange but I haven't heard any response. Asada skated what I thought was the performance of her life, and I don't think there were visible, significant errors. Asada, who may not have had a chance of getting onto the podium after her shocking short program, was scr*wed too, as was every single other non-Russian skater.

You know, instead of concentrating on Asada's free performance, there were many Japanese who were happy on Friday simply because Kim didn't get the gold medal. I find this sad. But hey, I look at Kim's record throughout her whole career and I ain't disappointed.

I see it this way - Kim skated superbly and got the best that was on offer to her before the Olympics even started - the silver medal, and Asada skated horribly in the short, and comes away with NOTHING whatsoever, except one excellent score. You can thumb me down, but I think certain people are in denial about Asada also getting the short end of the stick. There'd be an uproar in Japan too if Asada had done better in the short and just missed the podium.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Yuna Kim is a total BABE! I think she is way cuter tan the Japanese skaters so she gets my GOLD MEDAL! So Korean amigos, just relax and help make the next generation of skaters because these Russians are not messing around!

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

@Elbuda MexicanoFEB. 23, 2014 - 07:53PM JST

I think she is way cuter tan the Japanese skaters so she gets my GOLD MEDAL!

You think that judges in figure skating also give a high score to most cute skater ?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

It's strange but I haven't heard any response.

Good point. That's the difference. There have been quite a number of controversies in these Olympics. For example, even though Russia lost a hockey match against the U.S, on a controversial movement of the net, you don't see millions of Russians signing petitions. In the ladies moguls, even though many people thought Uemura should have won the bronze after she performed better than the winner, you don't hear about millions of Japanese in an uproar calling for a recount.

As with Mao's performance, I too thought her free skate was the best and should have been given more points, but I, like others, prefer to savor the good feelings from that moment and share the same feelings as Mao that at least she was able to go out with a bang, medal or no medal. I think the well-wishes from people around the world (e.g. Michelle Kwan and Plushenko) is a worthwhile reward.

Yet, here we are again, with millions of Koreans protesting Kim getting a silver instead of a bronze, and not celebrating the fact that she got something that few people ever come close to getting. At the very least, Kim herself stayed classy. It's too bad that many of her own people can't.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

You know, instead of concentrating on Asada's free performance, there were many Japanese who were happy on Friday simply because Kim didn't get the gold medal

Pukey2: Why stop there? You could also say that there were many Koreans who were gloating and happy that Mao didn't win a medal at all. After all, it stands to reason that those who would whine when things don't go their way, also tend to be the ones who would revel in another's misery.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

everything I've read and heard ...

Everything? Really? Somebody needs to read more than just the sources chucky posts.

Scott Hamilton, Elvis Stoijko, Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir ... have all said that Kim lost fair and square. For every article that says Kim got robbed, I can find one that says Sotnikova deserved her score.

Lest we blame ROK exclusively for whining about losing, I hear the Canadians are complaining that the Frenchmen's pants were too narrow in ski-cross. And today Peter Forsberg (a man whom I once had a great deal of respect for) came out and preemptively complained that the referees for the ice hockey final were going to be all North American NHL referees. I believe he called it "a ****ing joke". That's basically calling the best refs in the world cheaters before the game has even been played. Shame on you Forsberg.

So take heart ROK, there are other poor sports out there too!!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

not because the Koreans were the ones whining, it was the Western countries who were whining, their figure skating experts, and their press that screamed controversy.

chucky: Most skating experts like Scott Hamilton, Michelle Kwan, Elvis Stojko, and Tara Lipinski are saying that there is no controversy. In fact, the Western countries are only 'reporting' that Koreans are whining. There are also many articles (that I've already previously posted) that state that Sotnikova won fair and square. Yet people are picking staws by saying that there were two judges siding with the Russians. How about tonight's gold medal hockey match between Canada and Sweden? Don't you think having three Canadian officials in the game would be also biased?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

misray, I don't know what you're reading when you say Western countries are only 'reporting' that Koreans are whining. How about articles from USAtoday, Chicago Tribune, leMonde, the Atlantic Journal, plus all the links I gave you, all running conspiracy stories?

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

I'm so happy that Carolina won a bronze medal for Italy...That's all...

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Chucky..it doesn't matter what you think or what any Korean thinks. The Koreans and Americans are the only ones upset over this. Just accept that Koreans lost with grace like Kim. It doesn't matter if Kim had plastic surgery or not. She's a genious on the ice. If it was a beauty contest I'm sureRussian women in general would win anyways. :p

2 ( +5 / -3 )

I thought Adelina's free skate was better than Kim Yu-Na's, but then again I thought Mao's free skate was better too. I would have given the gold to Adelina, the silver to Mao and the bronze to Kim.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

missray:

As with Mao's performance, I too thought her free skate was the best and should have been given more points, but I, like others, prefer to savor the good feelings from that moment

And this is the point I'm trying to make (which you've conveniently ignored). On Thursday morning, everyone knew Asada had no hope of getting a medal, so they didn't care that Sotnikova's free program scored a whopping 7 more points than Asada's.

Most skating experts like Scott Hamilton, Michelle Kwan, Elvis Stojko, and Tara Lipinski are saying that there is no controversy

I don't know where the word 'most' came from. Lipinski sure isn't going to say something against it seeing that she was also an underdog in 1998 and of a similar age. But you can add her colleague Johnny Weir who sucks up to Russia so much that he's totally ignored the fact that Russian regards homosexuals like him as deviants and deserve nothing but a beating and even death. I haven't heard much from Michelle Kwan. She didn't tweet anything about Sotnikova, but she praised Asada's performance, and tweeted 'unbelievable' after Kim's performance. Whether that was 'unbelievable' as in 'her performance was unbelievably great' or 'unbelievable' as in 'the judges' scoring were unbelievable' is up to debate.

And experts like Robin Cousins and Katarina Witt say something is not right. But what do they know, hey? I, like Cousins and Katarina, am not Korean. I just don't like to see corruption.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Pukey2 Why would Johnny Weir suck up to Russia when he is a very good friend of Yuna Kim? Up to the point that rumors were spreading around about them dating during the Vancouver Olympics? Obviously the rumors aren't true since we know that Johnny Weir came out.

Like I said, I thought Mao skated the best free program, but it didn't matter she was already out of it. Yes, the points were a bit inflated. Not only Sotnikova, but Yuna Kim and Kostners as well. None of their program was anything near Yuna Kim's Vancouver performance. Actually none of their performance were as good as Mao Asada's Vancouver performance, but somehow they all scored over 216.

If there was a fix, I'm pretty sure they had it setup for Lipinskaia not Sotnikova, because no one expected Sotnikova to even compete for the medal. Either way Lipinskaia didn't win gold or any medal and Sotnikova did. Sotnikova was more like Shizuka Arakawa. No one expected them to win so there wasn't much pressure.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I am not whining and crying over this controversy. I don't watch the Olympics, and don't care about any of this, including medal counts. I only looked into this story after the controversy hit, and I only wanted to counter the people like you, who have been spewing hate (eg. comment about Yuna and plastic surgery) who say it's only the Koreans are crying and whining over this, when they're not. There have been far more press coverage in the west over this and analyzing the scoring, than in Korea itself. The one who started the poll is anonymous, nobody knows the nationality. It sounds like a Yuna Kim figure skating fan. Koreans only started going to the petition site after the internet word got around. Korea has a very high connected social media, where virtually everyone has highspeed connections using smartphones. Compared to most other countries, this is particularly true of Korea. It's only natural that any topics that go viral will reach the masses in just minutes and hours. And ten percent of the petition are coming from non-Koreans, that's at least 150,000 votes.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

Kim Yuna seemed very gracious in defeat. Of course figure skating is corrupt. Individual judges are not held accountable for their scoring and the scores rely on interpretation. Knowing these shortcomings in the sport, competitors have no choice but to accept whatever results are presented to them.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

And ten percent of the petition are coming from non-Koreans, that's at least 150,000 votes.

Not so chucky. You are right that only a paltry 10% of the traffic at Change.org petition site is coming from outside ROK. It definitely does not follow that those 10% are "non-Koreans". Unless of course you think that all former ROK citizens now living abroad had no interest in participating in the hysterical petition at Change.org. I feel certain that they were logging on to vote.

And btw, I personally don't care who has had cosmetic surgery and who hasn't, but try going to any of the articles you linked up and read through some of the comments. Very nasty comments from ROK fans about the appearance of Sotnikova. I read one calling her a "thick faced girl". Sad petty little comments mostly. Worse than the stuff that you are mad about posters putting up here.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Koreans are indeed well known for Internet bullying whenever something goes wrong during sports events for Korean player. They flood facebook and twitter accounts and spread knowledge of hwabyong every two years. Recently it was German competitor in fencing, Swiss player in football and now Russian skater. Talkn about a sense of stability from Koreans...

4 ( +4 / -0 )

The Russian skater from what I heard had slightly higher technical marks than Kim Yuna. You lost sweetheart, suck it up! All of Japan feels bad for you! Boo Hoo Hoo! Boo Hoo Hoo! Ha! Ha! Ha!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye sent a personal message to Kim, who confirmed Friday that she was retiring from competition as she had said she would.

“Your beautiful performance at the Games will be remembered forever—not only in the mind of Koreans but the whole world,” Park said in her message, which made no comment on the judges’ decision.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye sent a personal message to Kim, who confirmed Friday that she was retiring from competition as she had said she would.

“Your beautiful performance at the Games will be remembered forever—not only in the mind of Koreans but the whole world,” Park said in her message, which made no comment on the judges’ decision.

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What JOC chairman blurted on Japanese olympic player???

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

toshiko don't worry about Mori. You see why his term as PM was so short. He's a grumpy old fart. He isn't going to be the JOC Chairman much longer anyway.

If Mori wanted Mao Asada to win gold, then why don't he find a way to invest in her training much like the Korean government with their athletes? Or help Mao find more sponsorships so she can train abroad, like Canada? Otherwise, my message to Mori, "Shut up!"

Did PM Shinzo Abe say this? No!!

Just a grumpy old man who happens to be the chairman of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Does't matter, his life will expire before the 2020 games.

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What bad sportsmanship !!!! Kim did not skate as well as Russia and Italy did. One has to realize that you don't win all the time. In this year's games a lot of newer faces that took over. you are judged on how well you skate, keep knees slightly bent, the position you are when jumping, how you land, how well you dance each step to the music. Korea and Kim should be happy, they are all brats !!!!

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Patricia Lockwood Figure Skating much like Gymnastics are based on the scores coming from the judges. It's not who ran the fastest or jumped the furthest of lift the heaviest.

The judges are human and they make mistakes.

Yuna Kim looked like she skated better, but how do I know? I never skated before. I can't skate, but at least I admit it. The best people to give the best commentators are the ones who have skated before and how the technical points work. According to a gold medalist like Tara Lipinski and another figure skater like Johnny Weir, they went in depth on why Sotnikova won. So I was convinced that Adelina Sotnikova is the gold medalist.

The only thing I questioned the judges were the inflated points. Other than that, I'm fine with the result.

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"Kim Yuna seemed very gracious in defeat"

If a silver medal is a defeat, what's 16th place? lol

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Silver medal is a defeat to the Koreans, who claims that a fix is on by Putin and the judges.

Who came in 16th place?

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