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China's fifth medal, first controversy: Zhou Yang, short track speedskating

Tuesday, 23rd February 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (2)

Zhou Yang celebrates her gold medal in the 500-meter short track speedskating
Zhou Yang celebrates her gold medal in the 500-meter short track speedskating
Zhou Yang won China's fifth medal and third gold Sunday, in women's 1,500-meter short track speedskating, after her countrywoman and 500-meter gold medalist Wang Meng was disqualified for taking out two opponents in the semifinal.

Going into the race's final turn, Wang lost her second place position to the United States' Katherine Reutter, and then caused a collision that put herself, Reutter and South Korean frontrunner Cho Ha-ri into the boards and out of the race. Officials disqualified Wang, and invoked a special rule to allow Reutter and Cho to advance.

In the final, South Korea's Lee Eun-Byul and Park Seung-Hi finished second and third behind Zhou.

Wang has been one of the most prominent faces in the Chinese media during these games. She is China's winningest winter Olympian, having won gold, silver and bronze medals in the 2006 Olympics, followed by her 500-meter gold this year. Mainstream media reports in China—in outlets including Xinhua, China Daily and Titan Sports Newspaper—have glossed over Wang's disqualification, focusing almost solely on Zhou's win. But in more open online forums, Wang is a hot topic of debate—with some Internet users arguing she was wrongly disqualified and others suggesting she may have been instructed by coaches to skate dirty and give Zhou a better chance at winning.

Both Zhou and Wang skate for the last time in the 1,000-meter event, with preliminaries Feb. 24 at 5:00 p.m. PST (9:00 a.m. Beijing time on Feb. 25). Finals are Friday, Feb. 26 at 7:24 PST (11:24 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday, Feb. 27).

Zhou Yang image: blog.163.com

Tags: 2010 Winter Olympics, speedskating, Wang Meng, Zhou Yang