[데스크 칼럼] Watching the Olympic Awards Ceremony without a Flag
Input: 2022-02-23 18:55:13 Edited: 2022-02-23 18:58:01
Reporter Jeong Gwang-yong kyjeong@busan.com
Kwang-Yong Jung, Sports Manager
The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing came to an end on the 20th. The athletes’ sweat, tears, and efforts should shine, but it seems that the Olympics have become more remembered due to the controversy over bias and drug scandals. At least for Koreans.
A scene that symbolically demonstrates this was produced at the closing ceremony. During the closing ceremony, the cross-country men’s and women’s mass start awards ceremony was held. This event has a similar meaning to the marathon of the Summer Olympics, and medals are awarded at the closing ceremony. However, the national flag and national anthem of the gold medalist disappeared at the men’s 50km cross-country mass start awards ceremony. Instead, the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) was raised, and the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 rang instead of the Russian national anthem. The expression of the gold medalist standing at the top of the podium was subtle. It was an honorable place, but there was no laughter.
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Russia, the homeland of Alexander Bolshnov, who won the gold medal, banned the use of the flag and national anthem from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after it was discovered that the state intervened, administered prohibited substances to athletes, and manipulated and concealed samples just before the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. banned punishment. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), in 2016, 643 samples of Russian athletes tested positive for a prohibited substance.
Against this backdrop, a Russian athlete tested positive for doping. It was a ‘shock’ in itself that figure skating Camila Balieva, who was considered the best star in the Olympics, was tested for doping. Moreover, Baliyeva is now only 15 years old.
Perhaps the worst doping scandal in Olympic history was the Ben Johnson case at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Although 30 years have passed, personally, the memories of that time are clear. The exact date is Saturday, September 24, 1988, after class and before leaving school, I watched the 100m run with my friends in front of school TV. The showdown of the century between Carl Lewis of America and Ben Johnson of Canada. The result was an overwhelming victory for Johnson. With the world record of ‘9 seconds 79’. Johnson’s triumphant appearance as he raced the track with his index finger raised is vivid to this day.
But Johnson’s majesty was over in three days. A type of anabolic steroid, a banned substance, was detected in the doping test. The gold medal was forfeited and returned to second place Carl Lewis. Following the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Lewis succeeded in winning the 100m twice in a row, leaving him as a ‘legendary in athletics’ both in name and reality. Johnson’s championship and drug scandal were all over the world at the time, and to the middle-aged, the 1988 Seoul Olympics are still remembered as ‘Johnson and drugs’.
Balieva is perhaps the greatest star who caused a drug scandal at the Olympics since Johnson. However, the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), which allowed Balieva to compete in the women’s single figure skating singles event even though it was confirmed that she violated the doping rule, remains to be seen.
CAS approved Balieva’s participation in the game because she was 16 years old and was subject to World Anti-Doping Agency’s data disclosure protection. All eyes toward the Olympics, which had reached the final stage, were focused on Balieva, and the other athletes who participated in the women’s figure skating singles became like ‘brideries’. The gold, silver and bronze medalists in this event were also buried in Balieva.
In such a situation, Balieva could not even show her skills properly, and in the end, she fell one after another in the free skating match and stayed in fourth place. The scene was even harsher when her coach slammed her head towards Baliyeva as she bowed her head and exited her ice rink. It’s like watching ‘child abuse’.
This is a scene that would not have occurred if the ‘principle without exceptions’ had been applied as in the article of ‘figure skating legend’ Kim Yuna. As CAS allowed Balieva to participate without principle due to age, people around the world watched the ‘horrible scene’ (IOC Chairman Thomas Bach) in the main room. The young players might have been hurt more because of the adults around them who gave them drugs and the adults who made decisions without principles. In the end, adults should be held responsible for this drug scandal.
For reference, Carl Lewis, who received the gold medal in place of Ben Johnson, was later found not to be free from drugs. In 2003, Wade Axum, a former director of drug administration at the US Olympic Organizing Committee (USOC), revealed that “Lewis tested positive for a doping test conducted during the selection process for the Seoul Olympic team.” Although trace amounts of three banned substances were detected in Lewis, pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine, the USOC accepted Lewis’ claim that he only took natural supplements by accident and allowed him to participate in the Olympics. How would the history of the Olympics have changed if Lewis was banned from participating in the Olympics according to the rules at the time?
Reporter Jeong Gwang-yong kyjeong@busan.com