China’s short-track gold medallist Ren Ziwei disqualified days after South Korea’s ‘bias’ protest

Hwang Dae-heon has claimed 1500m short-track speed skating gold at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as the roles were reversed amid South Korea’s protest against alleged bias towards China.

The 22-year-old was disqualified from the 1000m, won by China’s Ren Ziwei, who was disqualified from the 1500m on Wednesday night.

Watch the unbelievable drama in the video above

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Hwang defeated Canada’s Steven Dubois by 0.035 seconds - the tip of a blade - in a massive 10-man medal race following a chaotic semi-final involving local hero Ren Ziwei.

South Korea, short track’s dominant nation with 25 golds now to second-placed China’s 12, had not won a single medal after three events at the Capital Indoor Stadium.

South Korea launched a protest against the refereeing and vowed to take the issue to world sport’s highest court, saying they “couldn’t understand” the decisions that favoured China.

Ren won the 1000m gold after escaping punishment for blocking Hungary’s Liu Shaolin Sandor, who was the man disqualified from the final.

But it was Ren who was disqualified from the 1500m semi-finals as his hopes of clinching a third title at Beijing 2022 suffered a massive blow.

Ren, who also won the mixed team relay, was penalised for an arm block.

Canada’s Charles Hamelin was also disqualified while three skaters were advanced to the final after the referee’s review.

“Wow. I’m going to go out on a limb and say two penalties and three advancements in one race is a new record for short track in history,” Australian short-track icon Steven Bradbury said on Channel 7.

“Three advancements, that’s unbelievable.”

The drama came after the referee in charge was only