You want to know the worst thing about the Winter Olympics? You’ll read all about the amazing happenings over in Pyeonchang, but you can’t watch the bloody videos.
American broadcaster NBC are very jealously guarding their footage, which means we’re dealing with scraps down here in Africa.
When it comes to the drama of yesterday’s women’s 500-metre short track speed skating final, that’s a real pity.
First, to set this one up, here’s Mashable:
Italian skater Arianna Fontana won the event in a heated race with the hosting-country’s favorite Choi Minjeong, which was close enough to need a photo finish.
But it was 23-year-old Canadian skater Kim Boutin who has drawn the ire of many South Koreans.
Choi, after losing first place, was then disqualified from winning the silver medal for interfering with other athletes. Boutin finished in fourth place, but was elevated to third after the disqualification. Yara van Kerkhof of Netherlands came in second.
The problem for many South Koreans is that Boutin looks to have done her share of interfering as well.
Here’s a GIF that shows Choi, in white, being pushed by Boutin, in black and red:
#최민정선수_실격반대 #Pyeongchangolympic2018 @Olympics
Canada player pushed Korean player! pic.twitter.com/KMYFXtda39— 총공계..장르불문 (@l6wVYy8e9h1mJgS) February 13, 2018
Not quite Lambie on Schalk, but there’s a push there. Another person raging:
Putting a hand to balance is not aggressive. Pushing someone ’til they almost fall is. If you really think what Choi did is more agressive then the UFC, then Boutin killed someone already! UFC is legal, murder is not! pic.twitter.com/NxR7kobqH3
— [D-38]백김 (@seonu2232) February 14, 2018
Two examples of the backlash on social media, starting with one of thousands of angry tweets:
And then Kim Boutin’s Instagram:
Boutin put up an Instagram post the night before the competition in preparation for the event, saying, “500m tomorrow morning. Are-you ready?”
But immediately following the event, the post was swarmed by outraged fans of Choi, racking up over 10,000 comments, most of which were critical of her performance.
Boutin has since deleted the post and made her Instagram account private.
Always good to see the Olympic spirit alive and well. You know where this is going, right? Here’s Reuters:
By Wednesday the disqualification of local Choi Min-jeong, who had finished second, triggered a wave of verbal attacks targeting the Canadian, seen as benefiting from what Koreans thought was an unfair decision of interfering.
”Congratulations on the dirty medal,“ one angry fan wrote. Did you’re (sic) papa teach you to cheat for the medal.”
“If I find you, you will die,” wrote another on-line user before Boutin was forced to block her accounts.
It always ends in death threats.
Ever heard of being gracious hosts (and losers), South Korea?
