In the wake of an evening of disastrous falls in the men's short track speedskating competition, Japanese Olympic officials Sunday filed an official protest of the disqualification of one of their athletes — not in hopes of getting a re-skate or any changes in the medal results but to make a point about video-assisted refereeing.
Satoru Terao was not involved in the athlete pileup of the 1000-meter final that resulted in four of five skaters falling and cost American Apolo Anton Ohno his gold medal position. Ohno was injured in that fall and after consulting with doctors Sunday morning, he canceled plans to participate in a Sunday evening practice but is scheduled to practice today.
"We checked on Apolo at 11 a.m. this morning," said U.S. Olympic Committee team physician Dan Carr. "The wound is healing and there is only a moderate amount of pain. The rehabbing is centered on pain control and stretching the muscle tissue. The muscle tissue was bruised, not torn. His limitations today are light activity. He will do some spinning (on a bike) today. He will try to skate tomorrow (Monday). We will continue to assess his progress daily."
Satoru was disqualified after a semifinal race in which two athletes also fell.
Satoru tried to pass Jiajun Li of China on the inside at the last turn of the race, a move referees judged as impeding. The resulting fall also involved Canadian Mathieu Turcotte who, along with Li, advanced to the ill-fated final.
"The absolute and solid fact is that Terao never pushed the Chinese athlete," the Japanese officials said in a statement. They say video of the race proves that Terao did not impede Li.
Satoru's disqualification was promptly appealed after the race, and the appeal was denied. The protest of the denial has been forwarded in writing to the International Skating Union, according to the Japanese delegation, who want Terao's disqualification rescinded.
"It is not about honor," the president of the Japanese National Olympic Committee told reporters. "It is about needing to change certain rules to protect the athletes and provide more consistent officiating of the events."
Ohno, a Seattle native, won a silver medal Saturday night in the men's 1000 meters but suffered the first major injury of his career in a fall in the final turn of the race.
He sustained a 1 1/4-inch cut on his left inner thigh that required six stitches, according to USOC medical staff. The wound was treated quickly and seemed not to pose a threat to Ohno's ability to skate in his three remaining events (500-meters, 1500-meters and 5000-meter relay).
At a press conference later Sunday, 1000-meter gold medalist Steven Bradbury of Australia agreed that "the sport is in need of video refereeing and video replays."
Bradbury won the final after the four skaters in front of him fell. He said technology assists referees in many sports and "there's room for it in short track for sure."
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