Korea to File Complaint Against Skating Judges at Sochi

[Orochi]

Korea to File Complaint Against Skating Judges at Sochi

chosun / Mar. 24, 2014 12:06 KST

Kim Yu-na

Korean sports bodies will file a complaint with the International Skating Union over dubious judging at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics that cost figure skater Kim Yu-na a gold medal.

The Korea Olympic Committee and the Korea Skating Union on Friday said they will file an official complaint with the ISU's disciplinary committee.

Kim, the 2010 Olympic champion, won a silver medal in Sochi, immediately sparking controversy over what appeared to be unfair judging that favored Russia's Adelina Sotnikova.

Kim's fans paid for newspaper adverts urging the Korean authority to lodge a complaint and demonstrated in front of the KOC headquarters.

The KOC and the KSU want the ISU committee to establish whether ethics were violated. One of the judges was Alla Shekhovtsova, who is married to Valentin Piseev, the former president and the current director general of the Russian Figure Skating Federation. Shekhovtsova warmly embraced Sotnikova immediately after her win was confirmed.

And another of the judges, Yuri Balkov of Ukraine, was suspended for a year after a tape surfaced of him proposing to a Canadian judge to fix the score during the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

Kim has been reluctant to complain about the decision but in a statement on Friday afternoon said she "humbly accepts" the decision of the KOC and KSU.
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