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  • 2022-02-14 (xsd:date)
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  • This photo shows US athletes heading to Beijing from Los Angeles in January 2022 (en)
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  • After the United States was disqualified in the short track speed skating mixed relay at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Facebook posts purported to share a photo of the team leaving Beijing in protest. The claim is false; the photo shows US athletes boarding a plane in Los Angeles in January, when they headed to the Games. The US skating team did not leave Beijing after they were disqualified. There's a reason why the US is the world's leading country, reads a Korean-language Facebook post shared on February 8, 2022. The post shows a photo of three skaters and a photo of athletes boarding a plane. The Korean caption on the first photo reads: US athletes from the short track speed skating mixed team relay who were disqualified from competing in the finals due to discrimination in Beijing. The caption on the second photo reads: This image shows US skating team members leaving Beijing completely after withdrawing from remaining matches. Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on Facebook, taken on February 9, 2022. The US team was disqualified in the semi-finals of the mixed team short track relay at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing on February 5, paving the way for China to claim their first gold medal. China, who were favourites going into the race, almost failed to reach the final but had a reprieve when the United States were penalised for blocking by an infield skater. The same photo were shared in similar Facebook posts here , here , here and here . The posts surfaced after South Korea said it would appeal over unfair officiating in short track speed skating at the Games after two gold medal hopefuls were disqualified in the men's 1,000-metre semi-finals. Some social media users appeared to believe the photos shared on Facebook genuinely showed the US speed skating team withdrawing from the Games. One person commented: How come China distorts the result like that? South Korea should withdraw like the US did. Another wrote: It's the right decision for the US to withdraw from such an Olympics that distorts the spirit of the Games. South Korea should also withdraw. However, the claim is false. First photo A reverse image search on Google found the first photo published by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency on January 30, 2022, ahead of the opening of the Beijing Olympics on February 4. The photo's caption reads: Andrew Heo (second from right) and Lee Eunice (left) of the US short track speed skating team catch their breath during official training for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China on the 30th. Below is a screenshot comparison of the first image shared in the misleading Facebook post (left) and the photo published by Yonhap (right). Screenshot comparison of the first image shared in the misleading Facebook post (left) and the photo published by Yonhap (right). Second photo A separate reverse image search on Google found the second photo published by AP news agency on January 27, also before the opening of the games. The photo caption reads: Members of the U.S. Winter Olympic team board a plane enroute to Beijing for the Olympics at a Delta Airlines terminal Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022, in Los Angeles. Below is a screenshot comparison of the second image shared in the misleading Facebook post (left) and the photo published by AP (right). Screenshot comparison of the second image shared on Facebook (left) and the photo published by AP News (right) ( AP / Marcio Jose Sanchez) Video footage showing the athletes boarding the plane in Los Angeles was published by AP and CBS . US speed skaters The US mixed short track relay team is made up of five athletes: Kristen Santos , Andrew Heo , Ryan Pivirotto , Corinne Stoddard and Maame Biney , according to the team's official Winter Olympics page . All five athletes remained in Beijing for other events, including the Men and Women's 1,000 and 1,500-metre races, as shown on the profiles of the athletes. Various media outlets reported that Santos , Heo , Pivirotto , Stoddard and Biney all took part in Olympic events and races following their disqualifications from the mixed team short track relay semi-final on February 5. Eunice Lee -- who is pictured in the first photo in misleading posts but did not compete in the mixed relay semi-final -- competed in other speed skating events on February 9 and 13, according to her Beijing Olympics profile page . (en)
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