Olympian accused of ultimate disrespect after what he was caught doing on camera
Slowly but surely, 2018 is building its case of being the year of the poor sport.
Super Bowl LII had the 10th highest viewership in the history of television, and one of the biggest storylines after the game was a controversy over whether or not Tom Brady shook the hand of the winning quarterback after the game.
Now, accusations of poor sportsmanship have trickled into the Winter Olympics.
Short-track speed skater Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands was accused of flipping the bird during a post-race photo-op.
Knegt, who came in second to South Korea’s Lim Hyojun, posed with Lim and bronze medalist Semen Elistratov while carrying plush dolls of the Pyeongchang Games mascot.
Shortly after the photo circulated, it didn’t take long for fans to notice Knegt’s right hand.
what's wrong with @sjinkieknegt? his middle finger and his immature behavior insult the olympics -_- #Pyeongchang2018 #Knegt #shorttrack #크네흐트 #임효준 pic.twitter.com/qU7nT8V41Q
— Ginu Grouch (@ginu_at) February 11, 2018
For some reason, despite the rest of his fingers clasping the plush, Knegt’s middle finger is curiously pointed towards his competitors.
Some fans immediately jumped to Knegt’s defense.
dont be ridiculous. sjinkie does not give a "middle finger".dont make it into something which it isnt. sjinkie is a real sportsman.
— phuketattorney (@marcusc57193617) February 11, 2018
In fairness to Knegt, it does seem like a fairly innocuous gesture.
Perhaps the cameras just happened to catch him while he was reaching for something and people tried to make something out of nothing, as is commonly done on social media.
“It looked like I put up the middle finger. It’s not intended … I just looked very bad in the photo, but it was not on purpose. I was just holding the medal,” Knegt told the Korea Times.
Fair enough. Perhaps the 28-year old Knegt made an honest mistake at the worst possible time and a camera just happened to catch it.
Unfortunately for Knegt, it’s a little difficult to give him the benefit of the doubt because the middle-fingered salute seems to be a popular gesture for him, especially in the Olympics.
Knegt was disqualified from the 5,000-meter relay event during the 2014 Winter Games because of his middle fingers.
[PyeongChang Winter Olympic] Dutch skater Sjinkie Knegt defends himself https://t.co/L9sk1jLoCu pic.twitter.com/oiUA2W0UNN
— HaB Korea.net (@HaB_Korea) February 12, 2018
That’s fairly concrete and conclusive evidence of Knegt flipping off Russia’s Viktor Ahn during the qualifying event for the 2014 relay event.
Knegt came in second during this year’s 1,500-meter race by a mere .07 seconds.
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