Written by Staff Writer, CNN China
When the PyeongChang Olympics was finally awarded to South Korea, Dick Pound — an IOC member and a former chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency — tweeted that the committee had made “a mistake.”
“I’m still quite puzzled by the reaction to that. Look, I accept China is a country that is not at the forefront in terms of its sports performance,” Pound said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
Pound’s initial objection to South Korea — a country long viewed with skepticism after the brutality of the Korean War — stemmed from a 2014 World Cup qualifier between South Korea and Myanmar.
The match took place in Rakhine State, where nearly a million Rohingya Muslims had been forced to flee violence which broke out last year after a military crackdown in response to attacks on Myanmar security forces
Called in to referee the match, Pound ruled a red card and subsequent penalty kick should be awarded to South Korea after controversial ‘transfer’ from another player in Myanmar’s team to a team in South Korea.
The behavior of Chinese officials has also angered Pound, who said in an interview that several Chinese officials at the Games lacked professionalism.
“I don’t think any of them were particularly impressed by the Olympics,” Pound told the newspaper.
Pound is not the only one to express his dismay at China’s Sochi response. At a press conference after the games, Canadian Speedskater Alex Boisvert-Lacroix said that’s it was “a mistake” for him to want to pursue an Olympic medal in Sochi.
“You go to the Olympics, you don’t go to compete in Sochi and it kind of sucks,” said Boisvert-Lacroix.