More than 1.5. million people have signed a petition on Change.org that demands an investigation into the ladies figure skating competition at the Olympic Games in Sochi.
Adelina Sotnikova of Russia (center), Yuna Kim of South Korea (left) and Carolina Kostner of Italy stand on the podium during the flower ceremony for the women’s free skate figure skating final at the Iceberg Skating Palace
The skating world and fans were buzzing Thursday, after 17-year-old Russian skater Adelina Sotnikova edged out reigning Olympic champion Yuna Kim of South Korea for the gold medal.
While Ms. Sotnikova is hailed as a hero in Russia, the games’ the host country, some pundits are questioning how the contest was scored after watching Ms. Kim’s graceful performance.
The accusations of “home cooking” among the judges are sure to roil the sport and may force judges to no longer score the skaters anonymously.
But a olympics petition author listed as “Justice Seeker” hopped on Change.org — an activism website more commonly associated with social justice and public policy campaigns — to immediately to demand answers and “rejudgement” of Thursday’s skating competition.
The petition is written in wobbly English and lists tweets from former skaters and observers of the sport who questioned the result and said Ms Kim “was robbed.”
The author said “the score in the free program has added on to the unfairness of what’s supposed to be the fairest of all competitions — the Olympics. The corruption needs to be made visible and needs to be corrected.”