People are too quick to use the racism word, inappropriate is a more accurate description of this:
Patrick Roest, Jan Blokhuijsen and Sven Kramer of the Netherlands / Reuters
Dutch skater Jan Blokhuijsen has sparked a dog meat controversy at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
At Wednesday’s press conference for the men’s team pursuit speed skating event, in which his team won a bronze medal, Blokhuijsen said, “Please treat dogs better in this country.”
The comment came out of nowhere. When reporters did not have questions, his teammate Sven Kramer asked, “All Japanese (reporters)?” And then Blokhuijsen made the remark before they left the conference.
After the news went viral, many Koreans expressed fury, claiming that it was racist and ignorant of a different culture. Some claimed the case should officially be reported to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“The IOC should punish him for making that racist statement,” a netizen said.
Another said, “The Korean government should file an official complaint. I think most young people do not eat dog meat anyway. But some still do, because that’s what we used to eat when we were poor and it became a custom.” [Korea Times]
Friendship between top Korean and Japanese female skaters one of the feel-good stories of the Olympics. They cheer each other on, send gifts and keep in touch away from competitions. pic.twitter.com/MWhXwlTskJ
You would think the Kim regime would at least send someone to the Winter Olympics that at least knows how to skate:
He came, he saw, he fell—twice. But what made North Korean athlete Jong Kwang Bom’s abysmal performance at the men’s short track speed skating 500m heat particularly memorable was his attempt to take down his Japanese rival by grabbing his blade.
The seventh and last of Tuesday’s heats featured athletes from South Korea, Japan, the U.S. and North Korea—oddly representative of the four main players involved in the current geopolitical tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Jong, who at 16 was the youngest skater in the heat, fell flat on his chest within a few seconds of the start of the race. While lying on the ice, he extended his arm and grabbed the Japanese speed skater Keita Watanabe’s blade, in what was either a willful attempt to trip the athlete or to force a restart. [Newsweek]
You can read more at the link, but the North Korean was awarded a restart for his efforts and then proceeded to fall again and try to take out the American and Japanese skaters. Oddly this race is a great metaphor for North Korea; a country with little to no talent, instead of trying to compete on the world stage decides to use thug behavior to threaten to take everyone else down with them.
