Any physical contact during a race can be considered a foul. The crux of the matter is who affects the other competitors and who gets a foul. So it depends on how the referee decides. Just as the Chinese team complained about "consistency" after the match, the penalty kicks for the same action in the same match were different. The decision of the International Sliding Federation is based on the picture of the same moment. In the CCTV picture, it can be seen that Cui Minjing, who took the lead, changed direction and blocked Fan Kexin. There are no visible markings on the ice, it's right around the corner. The turn was natural. The camera angles are different. Of course, it's impossible to tell who changed. To think that for the first time after the race, many foreign professional interpretations, short track speed skating, international judges and other insiders could not say what the basis of the penalty was speaks volumes about the unclear rules of the sport. For example, a more open rule of penalization includes protection against overtaking, which cannot be prevented. At this point, body position becomes critical in terms of whether or not the body position crosses over to the other side, and fouls for the same action are relevant. Meanwhile, the Chinese head coach said, "The referee thinks some points are important and some are not." So why is there an important rule?
Additionally, how do you define aggression by an athlete preparing a relay in a relay race? At the time, Fan Kexin took over, and Chou Yang was in the lead, albeit slower. There are rules that indicate the player in the lead can hand off without limit. The speed on the ice was so fast that the lead was only for a moment. In the end, there was no the fact that Korea's Choi Minjung was following the rules. The rules on the official website of the International Skating Federation do not specify the situation of the other team because of the fall and there was no intentionality or not. Only the victim had the opportunity to be judged in a competition other than the final.
All of this suggests that the rules of short track speed skating are very unclear, which is the primary problem. The original charm of uncertainty has been replaced by "confusion". There is no collision or bumping allowed under any circumstances. It depends only on the subjective judgment of the referee. This raises a second issue. The referee, and especially the referee, has too much power, but the failure to publicize the rules of punishment is not persuasive. Apart from conspiracy theories, no one is perfect and the judgment of the referee is inevitably large. The impression of the athletes, whether there is pressure, etc. are all uncertainties. What about fairness? The only way to avoid avoiding contact with an opponent is if the individual is outstanding. The problem is that everyone is trying to get close to training level.