North Korean Speedskater Appears to Try to Trip Opponent Before Being DQ'd

A photo from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, appears to show North Korean short-track speedskater Kwang Bom Jong attempt to trip Japanese opponent Keita Watanabe.    

Newsweek provided a look at the incident in question from the 500-meter competition:

On Tuesday, Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports noted Watanabe (misidentified by Yahoo as Ryosuke Sakazume, as Newsweek noted) downplayed the situation.

"I believe it was unintentional," he said. "His hand happened to be by my skate as he fell down."

After the first crash during Tuesday's preliminary heat, Jong got disqualified for pushing off Watanabe during the second run after a restart.

Japan coach Jonathan Guilmette wasn't sure what to make of the tripping allegation since photos only capture a split second of a fast-paced sport, per Wetzel.

"I don't know what was his intention," he said. "It is really hard to judge what's the intention. I don't know if he tried to grab the skates or if he is just trying to hold onto something like a reflex—there are so many hands all over in our sport. That was a reflex thing more than trying to trip over someone else."

Jong didn't comment on the situation afterward.

Watanabe qualified for Thursday's quarterfinals despite the drama, with a time of 41.678 seconds.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misidentified Watanabe as Ryosuke Sakazume, who is Watanabe's teammate, but Watanabe's helmet number and official Pyeongchang2018.com results confirm he was the athlete representing Japan in the heat.