Bizarre scene as local fans cheer Winter Olympic judge’s return from ‘bias’ ban

Local fans at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics have celebrated a Chinese figure skating official’s return from a suspension for biased judging at PyeongChang 2018.

Huang Feng received a one-year ban after he was accused following the pairs event at the Games four years ago.

Watch the cheerful reception to Feng in the video above

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The International Skating Union, which assigns the judges and technical panel, condemned the actions of Huang at PyeongChang in 2018.

“The seriousness of his misconduct is aggravated by the fact that it was committed at the Olympic Winter Games, the doubtlessly most important and prestigious competition that exists in figure skating,” the ISU said.

This year the ISU said in a statement that Huang was cleared to work at Beijing 2022, provided he continues to abide by the organisation’s code of ethics.

The technical panel that Huang sits on is responsible for identifying all the elements that skaters execute during their programs.

Huang received a round of applause and loud cheers from the several hundred fans, all Chinese citizens, who were allowed into Capital Indoor Stadium for the start of Friday’s program.

He stood and gave a brief wave to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd.

Meanwhile, about 150,000 spectators are expected to be invited to attend events at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in two of the three clusters of venues, organisers have said.

Plans to sell tickets to international visitors were scrapped last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and that was extended to residents of China in January.

Venues in Beijing and Zhangjiakou are now set to have invited spectators, but Alpine skiing and