With the conclusion of the women's 1500m final of short track speed skating, the short track speed skating competition of this Winter Olympics is also over. The wonderful game makes people's hearts beat faster, and the constant occurrence of penalties also makes people feel heart-wrenching, and the referees on the sidelines have also become the focus for a while.
So, why are short track speed skating awarded so many fines? How can the referee "grab the camera" so much? The so-called "this referee can deal with", "the team has a grudge", "the host is good", etc., are not correct interpretations. The real reasons are mainly these three.
Competition is exciting, and physical contact is inevitable
Short track speed skating itself is an exciting, fast-paced, blood-curdling ice race. From the perspective of the competition itself, short track speed skating has the characteristics of short ice track, fast sliding speed, and multiple people sliding on the same track. What's more, according to the format, in the limited space of the venue, short track speed skating allows athletes to intersperse at will during the taxi. Once the intense competition is sounded, it is inevitable that some physical contact will occur between the athletes during the gliding process.
Especially in the quadrennial Olympic Games, athletes will certainly be more "desperate" in order to achieve results and rankings. However, even if the format allows athletes to have some degree of physical contact, anyone who obstructs and interferes with the progress of other athletes by pushing, rushing, getting off the track, slowing down, kicking people out, etc., will be considered foul. This explains from the characteristics of the competition itself why there are more situations such as physical contact and referee intervention in the short track speed skating field.
Technology upgrade, put a good fair door
The second reason, the reason why short-track speed skating referees repeatedly intervene in the judgment of penalties, is not to see the mood or other "favoritism" reasons, but because of the improvement of the technical level and the need for fair competition.
Since 1992, when short track speed skating was officially included in the Winter Olympic Games, short track speed skating has finally "stood for thirty years". In the past three decades, short track speed skating has become more and more complete on the basis of competition characteristics and the improvement of the equipment of each player, in order to ensure fair competition.
Today's short track speed skating competition, a total of 4 referees work together to supervise and guarantee the game. There are 3 main referees on the ice, namely the referee in the middle of the ice rink and the two vice referees on the inside of the curve. In addition, there is a vice-judge who specializes in video playback. The reason why the video playback can be perfectly presented is because in today's short track speed skating competition venues, there are 360° cameras without dead angles, two linear directions in Shanghai have fixed cameras, and there is also a camera that follows the taxi in real time...
"Technical perfection + referee supervision" brings not only the precious record and playback of the wonderful picture of the game, but also the clear recording of every detail of the game and the door of fair competition.
The rules are refined, and more fouls are in their original form
In addition, behind the high frequency of short-track speed skating referees, there is another important reason - the increasing refinement of rules.
"For the International Skating Federation, in order to adapt to this rapid change, it has to update the rules of the world short track speed skating competition in the form of words every two years. The Winter Olympics are held every four years, and many of the rules have changed, but the audience may not understand them. Not long ago, The Vancouver Winter Olympics short track speed skating women's 3000m relay champion Zhang Hui also said this.
In fact, since the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the International Skating Federation has further refined the relatively rough rules of the past, and even added red and yellow cards to the short track speed skating competition. This is one of the reasons why there are so many fouls at this Winter Olympics.
According to the relevant rules of the International Skating Federation, there are several cases in which short track speed skating can be punished for fouls. One is derailment, the second is blocking, the third is assisting fouls, and the fourth is kicking the ice knife. Among them, blocking is the foul with the highest frequency. It is worth mentioning that the rules of short track speed skating are constantly changing and developing. In 2020, the International Skating Federation also officially launched a unified revised version of the penalty manual, which revised many details. Among them, the foul actions of the players have relevant penalty codes, which greatly improves the transparency of the game.
Understanding the above three important reasons, we can see that the reason why the referee of the short track speed skating competition has a "high appearance rate" is because of the comprehensive results of the competition characteristics, technical support and the refinement and improvement of the rules. And it is by no means what some people say, "the referee can deal with", "the team has a grudge", "the host is good" and so on. Such an argument is not only fictitious and self-"brain supplement", but also ignorant of rules and irresponsible.
Source Beijing Daily Client | Reporters Li Li Liu Shuang Li Songlin Liu Ping Deng Wei
Edited by Zeng Jiajia
Process Editor Liu Weili