Masters: “Honest, Pure and Clean Silver Medal”
Oksana Masters had just won the silver medal for the third time. But in front of her was once again Hongqiong Yang from China, who was allowed to wear gold again. As before over the long distance and in the sprint. No, the Masters and the athletes from the Paralympic host country China will certainly no longer be great friends.
After the sprint, Masters angrily drove past his competitor through the finish area and hit her “You Deceiver” yelled at. Later, the 32-year-old was hardly less clear: “At the end of the day I am so proud and happy with my honest, pure and clean silver medal.”
No race outside of China yet
What Masters meant by that: Yang had never performed internationally before the Paralympics. No World Cup start, let alone a race outside of China – and then three gold medals at home games. A quasi unknown dominates the cross-country races. The term that very few people want to utter slipped out of Masters in the finish area: “Doping!”
China is superior in the medal table
However, that is only one facet. The recent outburst of anger by the native Ukrainian is another chapter in addition to the extreme debate about the classification of the athletes at these Paralympics. Because China’s starters were not active in the World Cup before, they were put into classes that apparently did not correspond to the actual degree of impairment.
One result: The Chinese team is superior in the medal table – almost 60 before the final day. Second-placed Ukraine is just approaching the 30 mark. Before the Winter Paralympics in Beijing, China had just won one medal at all – gold in wheelchair curling in Pyeongchang 2018.