Despite the urgency of the situation, the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOCpress )'s conference in Beijing to protest biased officiating at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing failed to achieve its stated goal of raising awareness of the issue internationally, if there was such a goal in the first place.
The news conference was held in the Beijing Olympics Main Media Center on Tuesday, according to the organizing committee. In order to inform the public of its intention to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the organization announced on Monday that it would file an appeal against two refereeing decisions that disqualified two of Canada's short-track speedskating athletes during the men's 1,000-meter final on Monday.
The press conference was announced to the Korean media by the Korea Society of Communications (KSOC), and a significant number of reporters attended the event. A number of non-Korean journalists attended the news conference despite the fact that they had not been informed about it beforehand by the Korean government. A reporter departed the location after discovering that there was no English-language translation available. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of interpretation.
It will be the first time in 18 years that Korea and the committee would take a clear stance on the issue of Korean athletes being treated unfairly if the appeal is successful at the CAS. However, by declining to provide interpretation services, the committee missed an opportunity to express its displeasure with the unjust treatment and to make its opinion known globally.
A KSOC official claimed that the committee did not have enough time to prepare for the press conference, but he assured reporters that a translation of the remarks made by Yoon Hong-Geun, president of the Korea Skating Union and head of South Korea's athletic delegation, would be made available to them. Despite the fact that the conference concluded at 11:30 a.m., the promised translation has not been made available as of 8:30 p.m.
The Korea Sports and Olympic Committee (KSOC) acknowledged that it had made an "error," claiming that they had been "unaware" that international journalists would be present at the news conference in an interview with The Korea Herald. He emphasized that procuring a venue for the meeting on such short notice had been a "Herculean undertaking," and he expressed gratitude to the Main Media Center and the International Olympic Committee for their assistance.
Korean officials may have had their one and the last opportunity to speak out against officiating issues at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on Tuesday during a news conference. The potential to forge a link with other countries on the matter may have presented itself, given that athletes from many other countries have also been adversely affected by dubious judgments. According to reports, some athletes have accused Olympic officials of favoritism following a series of contentious penalties that benefitted Chinese competitors.
It was the committee's clear intention, expressed in a statement made the day before, that struck a personal chord with this writer.
It stated that the purpose of filing an appeal with the CAS is to "publicize the injustice." The news conference, on the other hand, raised questions about the purpose of holding it in the first place. It was a press conference for a home audience, an opportunity to express dissatisfaction to Korean reporters in the form of complaints.
