Short Track athletes Lee Jungsu and Kwak Yoon Gy in trouble for race fixing

[LucasBunny]

UPDATE 5/11/10

Two South Koreans banned for fixing races

Olympic medalists Lee Jung-Su and Kwak Yoon-Gy allegedly helped to fix races and national team tryouts

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Two South Korean Olympic medalists in short track speed skating have been banned from competing for three years for their alleged involvement in a race-rigging scandal, officials said Thursday.

The Korea Skating Union suspended Lee Jung-Su and Kwak Yoon-Gy from all competitions until April 2013 as punishment for allegedly helping to fix competitions and national team tryouts in March, KSU official Kim Tae-Wan said.

The two athletes received notice on Tuesday and have seven days to file an appeal, Kim said. In the event of an appeal, the KSU will open a second investigation that could take months to complete.

The three-year ban is stiffer than the penalty proposed by a special joint commission of inquiry that convened last month.

The panel, comprised of representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korean Olympic Committee and the KSU, had suggested a one-year ban.

The scandal came to light when 20-year-old Lee, a double gold medalist at the Vancouver Olympics in February, failed to qualify for the national team tryouts in March for the world short track championships in Bulgaria, citing a knee injury.

The commission's preliminary investigation last month found that Jeon Jae-mok, a national team coach, had coerced Lee to give up his spot in the championships in favor of Kwak.

Jeon was permanently expelled last month from the sport for masterminding results of national team tryouts to benefit skaters, as recommended by the commission.

Lee, who won gold medals in Vancouver in the men's 1,000 and 1,500 meter races, denied all accusations of having been Jeon's accomplice and claimed he was the victim "of deep-rooted and wrongful practices on the local sport scene," according to the Korea Times.

Kwak, 21, silver medalist in the men's 5,000-meter relay in Vancouver, has admitted to being part of the alleged fixing.

Kim said the KSU has no plans to take away the skaters' pensions.

South Korean Olympic gold medalists receive at least $900 (1 million won) per month in government pensions, as well as additional bonuses.

Source

Universalsports.com

Skaters lodge appeal to suspension[

5/11/10

Two Olympic medal-winning short track skaters, Lee Jung-su and Kwak Yoon-gy, lodged an appealed Monday against the three-year ban handed to them by the Korea Skating Union (KSU) for race-fixing.

Vancouver Olympics double gold medalist Lee, and silver medalist Kwak, are seeking to save their skating careers appealing against last week's suspension, which will continue until April 2013.

``As they appealed the decision, the union will meet again to review the case,'' a KSU official said.

According to KSU regulations, athletes under disciplinary actions have the right to request a case review within seven days from notification. The union has to go over the decision for a second review within 30 days.

The KSU decision was harsher than the recommendation of a one-year ban from a special joint committee in April, consisting of the Korean Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The 20 year old skaters allegedly fixed the results of a series of recent races including their national team tryouts for major events including February's Winter Games and the World Championships in March.

source

Just thought soompi would wanna hear the news since you all are soooooo into short track speedskating and are so opinionated when it comes to cheating.

I feel bad for Lee Jungsu and Yoon Gy

because they are great athletes that got caught up in a stupid situation.

[gayness]

Man that sucks. At least the other guy admitted it.

[Guest julia*love]

woah.

thanks for sharing...it's too bad they either chose to get involved or got mixed up in scandals such as these. that first picture looks really weird though haha

[Guest crazy lulu]

i had such a hunch there was something up with them fellows. but hey, there's my imagination for ya. 8/ team america!

[baoi]

Ashley, you're so funny. This will surely puncture a few fans' hearts.

[LucasBunny]

Ashley, you're so funny. This will surely puncture a few fans' hearts.

Gurl you know I'm just bringing the realness

yall know since "cheating" should not tolerated in the world of short track :rolleyes:

[Guest duh123]

ha! it was too good to be true. it's too bad that they work so hard. anyway, whatever their image is already tarnished so no point in lying.

[Guest smithers]

Eh by the time sochi comes around therell be a new batch to own the sport

[Guest cantthinkofaname]

so what i'm getting is that they cheated?

[Guest Atmosphere.]

i met him at utah too X_X;; well yeah that's good at least he admitted it.

even though i still kind of don't understand after reading this article twice..

so he got knee injury so he had to be out in the competition in order to let the other guy in to do for him? @_@

[Guest charlemagne]

so what i'm getting is that they cheated?

i met him at utah too X_X;; well yeah that's good at least he admitted it.

even though i still kind of don't understand after reading this article twice..

so he got knee injury so he had to be out in the competition in order to let the other guy in to do for him? @_@

What im getting is..

The world cup was after the olympics. Only one, either lee jung soo or kwak could go to this world cup for korea. So at the trials to see who represents korea, lee said he was injured so that kwak could go instead.

Doesnt have anything to do with the race itself.

[viyra]

and to think that most korean netizens were so mad at US speedskater Apolo - and claimed he was cheating. I knew something wrong was going on. Yes, at least the other one admitted.

[LucasBunny]

and to think that most korean netizens were so mad at US speedskater Apolo - and claimed he was cheating. I knew something wrong was going on. Yes, at least the other one admitted.

Oh the irony!!!!!!!!!!! :rolleyes:

It sucks for these two because they are very talented skaters, I hope they learn their lesson.

[Guest charlemagne]

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/BunnyWurb/24zgftg.jpg

Oh the irony!!!!!!!!!!! :rolleyes:

It sucks for these two because they are very talented skaters, I hope they learn their lesson.

I think the difference is Apollo's accused cheating was on the ice while the koreans is off the ice.

[Guest colloquy]

If the verdict is upheld by the appeal committee, then their careers are over. Boo hoo.

[LucasBunny]

I think the difference is Apollo's accused cheating was on the ice while the koreans is off the ice.

Cheating is still cheating

I think this case is even worse than Apolo's "so called" cheating (btw he never cheated)

because that was ref's call, and also the uproar was from a bunch of people who don't know squat about Speed Skating.

I think the Coaches should be ashamed, more ashamed than Jungsu and Yoon Gy

this is unfortunate for the two skaters.

[Guest charlemagne]

Cheating is still cheating

I think this case is even worse than Apolo's "so called" cheating (btw he never cheated)

because that was ref's call, and also the uproar was from a bunch of people who don't know squat about Speed Skating.

I think the Coaches should be ashamed, more ashamed than Jungsu and Yoon Gy

Yes, but one determines who is the winner of a race while this one determine who participated. Doesnt have to do with who skated best on the ice.

edit-

I am definitely not saying its ok, but you cant really compare them.

[Guest yoo유jin진]

wow, that's not what I expected to read when I saw "race fixing" in the title.

I agree, cheating is cheating and it is wrong no matter what, but I also agree that you cannot compare cheating on ice to what Lee Jungsoo did.

ps, lucasbunny, you seen a little to happy at the news. I don't blame you for supporting the american team, but you don't have to hate on the korean skaters so much (as in everytime you post anything about speed skating). It is more than a little rude, and you don't even make an effort to say it nicely.

[Guest chdairkld]

ps, lucasbunny, you seen a little to happy at the news. I don't blame you for supporting the american team, but you don't have to hate on the korean skaters so much (as in everytime you post anything about speed skating). It is more than a little rude, and you don't even make an effort to say it nicely.

^let's just give lucasbunny room to also voice her opinion since it seems it is quite hard to do because the rest of us (soompi) are also soooo opinionated.

but back to the article, i guess it's the end of their careers. wonder what they'll do now?

[Guest Lindoodoo]

I never wanted to assume but... I always thought these two guys looked kind of suspicious. o_O Even though they didn't necessarily cheat during races, their characters seemed off. I know its wrong to judge this way but hey, my assumptions were pretty much right.