SEOUL– The 2022 Winter Olympic status for the South Korean short track speed skater Shim Suk-hee remained in limbo Wednesday following the end of an investigation into race-fixing charges against the two-time gold medalist.
The Korea Skating Union (KSU) on Wednesday announced findings from its probe into suspicions that Shim had deliberately tripped her teammate, Choi Min-jeong, out of spite during the women’s 1000m final at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Allegations surfaced in October when an online news outlet disclosed a series of expletive-laden text exchanges between Shim and one of her coaches.
Yang Bu-nam, vice president of the KSU who headed the investigation, said his team had determined Shim had intentionally used her right hand to push off Choi’s left arm during that race.
However, Yang couldn’t say whether Shim’s intent had been malicious or not.
“We couldn’t confirm whether Shim’s action was to prevent Choi Min-jeong from winning a medal, or whether Shim was trying to protect herself,” Yang said.
The KSU did say Shim, 24, admitted to mocking her teammates and coaching staff in text messages for the 2018 Olympic squad.
In the race in question, Shim and Choi got tangled up as Choi tried to make a pass on the outside in the last stretch. Both fell down and crashed into the wall. Shim was disqualified, and Choi ended up in fourth place.
In one particular text exchange, the coach suggested Shim try to create “a female Steven Bradbury,” and Shim agreed, “Yes. Let’s do that.”
Bradbury, an Australian skater, captured an unlikely gold medal in the men’s 1,000m at the 2002 Winter Olympics when all of his opponents went down in a pileup. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Shim meant she would try to create a massive collision so that someone other than Choi would win the gold in the 1,000m, or she would seek to take Choi down when she had a chance.
Just hours after the race, the coach sent a text to Shim to congratulate her on taking down Choi. Choi’s agency has pointed to these text exchanges as proof Shim had malicious intent in that Olympic race.
And with the KSU’s investigators not able to establish any ill intent on Shim’s part, the ball is now in the court of its disciplinary committee.
The KSU plans to open disciplinary proceedings on Shim sometime this month and determine the penalty, if any, on Shim. The disciplinary unit is expected to focus on Shim’s bashing of her coaches and teammates in text exchanges, rather than on the on-ice incident with Choi.
Shim will be able to appeal any KSU decision with the Korea Sport & Olympic Committee.
Shim won the national team trials in May but, in light of her race-fixing charges, was dropped from the team ahead of the International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track Speed Skating World Cup season, which ran from October to November.
Source: Yonhap News Agency