Sweet, then swallow; bitter, then spit. Lin Xiaojun (30, China) faces a crisis of being discarded.
China finished fifth in the men's 5,000-meter relay in short track speed skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics held on the 21st. The Netherlands won the gold medal, Korea the silver, and Italy the bronze. Canada finished fourth, China fifth, Belgium sixth, Japan seventh, and Hungary eighth.
China failed to win a gold medal in short track at this competition. The best result was Sun Long, who won silver in the men's 1,000 meters. Sun Long and Liu Xiaoang fell in the 1,500-meter final and failed to win a medal.
China's results are disastrous. In most events they did not even reach the finals, including fourth in the mixed relay and failure to advance to the women's 500-meter final. For the men's relay they trusted and fielded Lin Xiaojun (Korean name Im Hyo-jun), who naturalized from Korea, but there was no result.
The arrows of criticism are turning toward Lin Xiaojun. Sohu.com criticized, saying, "China wasted money for nothing. They invested expensive money to naturalize Lin Xiaojun, but there was no return at all. China finished with zero gold medals in short track."
When he competed wearing the taegeuk mark under the name Im Hyo-jun, Lin Xiaojun won the men's 1,500-meter gold and the 500-meter bronze at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. But in 2019 he experienced a sexual assault incident with Hwang Dae-heon at the Jincheon National Training Center.
Ultimately Lin Xiaojun received a one-year suspension from the Korea Skating Union. Facing a crisis in his athletic career, he chose to naturalize to China in 2020.
According to IOC rules, to compete in the Olympics after changing nationality, three years must pass after the last international competition representing the previous nationality. Lin Xiaojun skipped the Beijing Olympics and returned to the Olympic stage after eight years. However, Lin Xiaojun failed to win even a single medal, let alone a gold.
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