- Chinese speed skater Ren Ziwei won a gold medal after his Hungarian opponent was disqualified.
- The DQ in Monday's men's 1,000m short-track final led to allegations of pro-China judging bias.
- In a separate semifinal on Wednesday, however, Ziwei himself was then struck out by the judges.
Gold medal winning speed skater Ren Ziwei, one of China's biggest stars at the Beijing Winter Olympics, was disqualified from the final of the men's 1,500 meter short-track race, just days after winning gold in contentious circumstances in another race.
Ren beat Hungary's Shaolin Sandor Liu in the final of the men's 1,000 meter short-track event on Monday, a race which Liu initially won before being given two penalties.
Sandor was penalized for changing lanes and hitting Ren, and for using his left hand to obstruct Ren.
Ren, who appeared to retaliate by shoving Liu with both hands, was not punished and was awarded the gold medal.
On Wednesday, however, the shoe was on the other foot for the Chinese star as he was kicked out during the semifinal of the 1,500 meter short track race.
The 24-year-old was penalized for an arm block, paving the way for Hwang Dae-heon to win in the final and claim South Korea's first gold medal of the games.
Ren's win in the 1,000 meter race, as well as several other unusual judging decisions, had led some speed skaters to question the neutrality of the judges at the track.
South Korea's Kwak Yoon-gy spoke out after Saturday's mixed team relay, which saw China survive a semifinal race only after the disqualification of the Russian Olympic Committee and the US.
Both teams had finished ahead of the host nation, however, after a video review, the ROC earned a penalty for "causing obstruction," while the US was docked for "blocking."
China went on to win gold in the final.
"Looking at the way China won the gold medal, I felt bad that my younger teammates had to watch something like that," Kwak said. "I thought to myself, 'Is this really what winning a gold medal is all about?' Things all just felt very hollow."
In Monday's men's 1,000 meter semifinals, world record holder Hwang Dae-heon and Lee June-seo, both of South Korea, were disqualified for illegal late passing and lane-changing respectively.
The decisions allowed two Chinese skaters, Li Wenlong and Akar Furkan, to advance to the final, in which Ren finished first and Wenlong second following Hungarian skater Sandor's disqualification.
South Korea lodged a protest with the International Skating Union over the decision, however it was rejected, reports Fox Sports.
On Tuesday, the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC) said it plans to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) "to formalize the injustice of this decision."
"We plan to do our best to prevent injustice from happening to our athletes in the international ice skating and sporting communities," KSOC said in a statement, per Inside The Games.
Hungary also filed a protest after Sandor's yellow card in the 1,000m final, but it was again rejected.