Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

South Korea protests Adelina Sotkinova’s figure skating win over Yuna Kim

Medal Ceremony - Winter Olympics Day 14

during the medal ceremony on day fourteen of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Medals Plaza on February 21, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

Streeter Lecka

The South Korean Olympic Committee/South Korea Skating Union is protesting Russia’s Adelina Sotkinova’s controversial gold medal win over Yuna Kim, the Associated Press reports.

Agence France-Presse shares some of the statement from South Korea’s Skating Union:

“The South Korean team in Sochi has politely requested the Korean Skating Union to ask ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta to review the women’s figure skating singles (to see) if it followed the rules of ISU standards,” said a statement.

Also: ISU’s statement on the matter

It really might all be a statement, however, as USA Today reports that this is almost certain to be ineffective because such complaints must be filed immediately after rulings to have any effect (beyond airing grievances).

“We haven’t received any letter of protest or complaint or anything,” ISU spokeswoman Selina Vanier said Saturday.

“All ISU members know the rules of protest ... That’s something that’s very clear to our members.”

MORE: Compare Kim’s and Sotkinova’s programs side-by-side

NBC analyst Scott Hamilton told the Associated Press that it’s all about how the judges are selected rather than the scoring system itself.

“The problem was never the scoring system,” Hamilton said. “It was how the judges are selected for these competitions. What happened in Salt Lake City resulted in this scoring system not treating the issue. Every sport out there has an affiliated association of officials. They are separate from the federation, and figure skating is hesitant to do that. It is a fundamental issue that leads to people having a hard time taking the results as the results.”

Clearly people in South Korea - and beyond - are having a tough time with this one.

MORE: Kim retires after silver

Sotkinova moves on from controversies

Focus on the skating, not the score, says NBC’s Joe Posnanski

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins