The Skating Federation Fairness Committee to Meet on the 21st... Decision on Shim Seok-hee's Olympic Participation

Athlete Shim Seok-hee. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The participation of short track women's national team member Shim Seok-hee (24, Seoul City Hall) in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is expected to be decided on the 21st.

The Korea Skating Union announced on the 16th that the Sports Fairness Committee (Disciplinary Committee) meeting regarding Shim Seok-hee will be held at 2 p.m. on the 21st in the union's conference room.

The Sports Fairness Committee plans to discuss for about three hours whether to impose disciplinary action and its severity, and announce the results on the same day. The committee will only discuss the disciplinary level concerning the coach's verbal abuse and derogatory behavior.

Shim Seok-hee was cleared of three out of four allegations in the investigation committee's report released on the 8th.

The investigation committee announced that it could not find clear evidence regarding the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics intentional collision allegation, illegal eavesdropping in the athletes' locker room, and match-fixing allegations at the 2016 International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup and the 2017 Sapporo Winter Asian Games.

However, the coach's verbal abuse and derogatory behavior were confirmed as factual, and Shim Seok-hee also admitted to them.

Since Shim Seok-hee herself acknowledged the behavior, there is unlikely to be any debate regarding the grounds for disciplinary action.

Shim Seok-hee's disciplinary level is expected to be determined according to the national representative's duty of sincerity and maintenance of dignity clause, which states that "national representatives, as individuals representing the country, must refrain from conduct that lowers their dignity and maintain social responsibility and morality."

If the Sports Fairness Committee imposes a suspension of national representative qualification for two months or longer, Shim Seok-hee will not be able to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics opening on February 4 next year.

Depending on the level of disciplinary action, Shim Seok-hee can request a retrial at the higher-level Korea Sports Council Sports Fairness Committee.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.