'What a joke': Fans in uproar over 'suspect' Winter Olympics act
Fans have accused a Chinese speed skater of getting away with flicking a marker underneath a competitor at the Winter Olympics after videos circulated on social media.
In the video, viewed millions of times across different social media sites, Chinese star Kexin Fan reached over a skater and appears to put her hand on a marker.
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The marker is then propelled towards Canadian Alyson Charles who falls over and also takes down Kexin.
In a twist, Charles' 18-year-old Canadian teammate Florence Brunelle was penalised for tripping Fan and Charles.
The sequence of events had Winter Olympic fans absolutely stumped to how this could have occurred and not been spotted.
Canadian sports journalist wrote: "Sabotage or incidental contact?"
"The slow motion replay from this morning's short track speed skating event looks suspect."
The incident divided viewers.
The Chinese athlete is out here playing 2 sports: speed skating and the marker slide.#speedskating https://t.co/IifkduxHqO
— Spencer W. (@Spencer__W__) February 7, 2022
Canadian skater Florence Brunelle was wrongly DQ’d in the Women’s 500 metre short track semi. You can clearly see it was the hand of the Chinese skater Fan Kexin that pushed the marker that caused the spill. Bad call. #TeamCanada #Olympics pic.twitter.com/6mbwUo3pwz
— Bill Murtagh (@cavendishbill) February 7, 2022
I’m actually willing to give Fan the benefit of the doubt here (she probably instinctively pushed the marker out of the way), but the strange thing is Chinese media have completely ignored this clear slowmo and showed other angles where you can’t see anything except the crash 🤔 pic.twitter.com/5O3GV0cA0X
— Mei (@Mei_49123) February 7, 2022
"Sportsmanship" shown by the Chinese skater in the Beijing Olympics
Watch carefully. The Chinese skater in Red reaches down, over the other Canadian, grabs one of the border markers, then tosses it into the skater in front, causing that skater to fall. pic.twitter.com/inlk4QFzvT— Jim Lewis 💰⚒💰 (@Galactic_Trader) February 7, 2022
My god the skater literally throws the marker 🤣what a friggin' joke.
— Brian Adams (@BadamsProblems) February 7, 2022
Recheck the video footage… it’s was the Chinese competitor who flicks the marker into the path of the Alyson Charles, not Florence… she doesn’t actually touch it in any way… Fan’s arm is in front of of Florence obstructing then hits the marker with her hand then flicks it.
— Glen Molloy (@GlenMolloy1) February 7, 2022
Either way, Kexin didn't gain an advantage as she fell over in the spill.
Alyson Charles still advances after crash
The incident occurred during the first qualifying race of the Women's 500m race on Day 3 of the Winter Olympics.
Kim Boutin, the world record holder, went on to win the race with Brunelle coming in second.
However, Brunelle was disqualified for making an earlier illegal late inside pass. Her second penalty during the Games.
Charles was able to advance into the next round considering she was coming second when the crash occurred and it was not her fault.
Boutin went on to win the bronze medal, while Italian Arianna Fontana won gold and Netherlands' Suzanne Schulting won silver.
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