Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, January 24 - Do you understand the Winter Olympics: the "rear-end" of short-track speed skating?
Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Junbao Wang Jingyu
In short track speed skating competitions, there are often cases where athletes collide with each other and people flip on their backs. So, when a collision occurs, who is right? Who fouled? Do you know?
On November 28, 2021, the 2021-2022 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in the Netherlands came to an end in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. China's Fan Kexin (third from right) and Sun Long (second from right) are in the final of Group A in the 2000m mixed relay. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zheng Huansong
We know that short track speed skating is not the same as speed skating, and you can grab the track during the process of sliding. Because there are 4 to 7 athletes in a race together, it is not uncommon for them to surpass each other and compete with each other during the competition. Athletes compete fiercely for positions when scrambling and card slots, and there are often collisions, falls, and even penalty disputes. So, what kind of transcendence is justified? What kind of action will be judged foul?
According to the relevant rules of the International Skating Federation, there are several cases that will be punished for fouls, one is derailment, the second is blocking, the third is to assist fouls, and the fourth is to kick the ice knife. Among them, blocking is the foul with the highest frequency. The rules stipulate that an athlete's following actions are judged as blocking fouls: blocking, intercepting, changing lines or pushing another skater with any part of the body, or crossing another skater's route laterally, causing collisions and interference.
Physical contact and collisions often occur when someone tries to overtake. The ISU's rules of sliding stipulate that unless two people are side by side, the players and teams in the rear are responsible for a collision – provided that the players who are sliding in front of them do not make inappropriate movements. This rule seems simple, but the actual operation process of the referee's decision is very complicated. When watching the video replay, the referee should judge whether the athlete has committed a foul from several aspects, such as the area where the collision occurred, the movements of the suspected foul athlete, the direction of the sudden change of course during the sliding process, and whether physical contact occurred. It is worth mentioning that the rules of short track speed skating have been changing and developing, and there have been great changes since the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, and athletes are still re-adapting and understanding. For the audience, it is even more difficult to make accurate judgments. Professional people do professional things, rule enforcement and interpretation of this matter we still leave it to the referee.
In short track speed skating, there is a remedy mechanism for athletes who have been fouled. Once an athlete is hit in a competition, and the player who hits the person is judged to be fouled, and the player who is hit is in the first or second place at the time of the collision, the athlete can be sentenced to the next round.
On October 23, 2021, the players collided in the men's 1500m final of the 2021/2022 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup (Beijing). Photo by Ju Huanzong, Xinhua News Agency
However, if the collision occurs in the final, the athlete who is hit can only consider himself unlucky, the most typical case is the australian Bradbury at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics accidentally won the championship. At that time, in the men's 1000m final, the four leading players all fell at the last turn, and Bradbury, who slipped in the last place, was lucky to get gold. It was also Australia's first gold in the history of the Winter Olympics.
Since there are so many collisions, what if the ice knife cuts someone when you fall? Don't worry, the athletes wear clothing in the competition is anti-cutting. Even so, in the past, we have seen images of athletes bleeding from injuries in some competitions, which shows how fierce the competition in short track speed skating is.
We often refer to the Chinese short track speed skating team as the ace army, to what extent are they cattle? The Chinese delegation has won 13 gold medals in previous Winter Olympics, 10 of which came from short track speed skating. Whether it was Yang Yang winning the first gold medal for China at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, or Wang Meng winning three gold medals at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the wonderful moments from the short track speed skating field left a deep impression on people.
At the last Winter Olympics, Wu Dajing rode the short track speed skating men's 500 meters to win the first gold medal of the Chinese men's short track speed skating, and the only gold medal of the Chinese delegation at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
On February 22, 2018, Wu Dajing celebrated victory in the men's 500m final of short track speed skating at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics at the Gangneung Ice Arena. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lan Hongguang
At that time, Wu Dajing's achievements broke the world record. But why is it that in short track speed skating, breaking records is often not as noticeable as speed skating?
This is because the short track speed skating event is completed in a human-to-human confrontation, it is a person-to-person comparison, and athletes may slow down the speed for the sake of competition strategy at certain times in the competition. The speed skating event is a race against time, and the record created is more gold.
In addition, unlike track and field athletes who usually hit the line with their chests, the signature action of the short track speed skating dash is to desperately stretch the foot. This is because the rule of short track speed skating is that the front end of the ice knife to the line is even if it hits the line. At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, China's Li Jiajun finished second with a "one-knife difference" because he lost so much at his feet.
How is the short track speed skating competition at this year's Beijing Winter Olympics different from previous editions? The biggest difference is that this time the mixed 2000-meter relay of men and women has been added, and the male and female players can be seen competing in the same field on the Winter Olympic field. This sub-event is also one of the most gold-rushing events of the Chinese short track speed skating team at the Winter Olympics. On February 5, let's set our sights on the Capital Gymnasium to see if the Chinese team can win the first gold in the short track.