| ▲ ISU International Referee Choi Yong-koo (third from left) holds a press conference to protest against the short track bias judgment at the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022. news |
The International Skating Union (ISU) International Referee Choi Yong-koo, who protested the bias against short track speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, has recently been disqualified from refereeing.
The Korea Skating Federation announced on the morning of the 27th that the ISU had canceled the qualification of referee Choi on the 8th. Referee Choi participated as the leader of the short track team support team at the Beijing Winter Olympics. Referee Choi held an emergency press conference with team leader Yoon Hong-geun after Korean athletes were eliminated by an ambiguous decision in the men’s 1000m short track short track semifinals, and spoke about his beliefs about bias. At the time, referee Choi made a biased judgment, saying, “It is an obvious mistake. Both Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Provincial Office) and Lee Jun-seo (Korea National University) should not be disqualified. It is a human decision, but if the misunderstanding is repeated, it is intentional.”
Two months have passed since then, and referee Choi received a disciplinary action from the ISU for disqualification from the international referee. It is known that the ISU made this decision after deliberation of Referee Choi’s remarks through the recent technical committee. The ISU prohibits international referees from representing a particular country. Due to Choi’s disciplinary action, the number of Korean judges working at the ISU was reduced from three to two.
Reporter Jeong Se-young
