The hall has a certain reputation as a place of sporting diplomacy.

When the American President was Richard Nixon and the brutal throes of the Cultural Revolution in Mao's China had abated, Americans and Chinese played table tennis in the capital's indoor stadium.

Ping-pong diplomacy, and even today, 50 years later, the building still looks like the foreigner imagines the architecture of red China under Mao.

Large red characters above the entrance portal, red flags at eaves height, the red flag of China on the roof.

Christopher Becker

sports editor.

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Everything is red inside too: the suit shoulders of the Chinese.

Only with the diplomacy it has an end.

The short track competitions of the Winter Games take place in the capital's indoor stadium, which means: this is where China collects its medals.

China won their first gold in the mixed team competition on Saturday.

In the 1000 meter final on Monday, Ren Ziwei won ahead of Li Wenlong, gold and silver for China, third was the Hungarian Liu Shaoang, son of a Hungarian and a Chinese, fourth was the Chinese Wu Dajing and fifth was the Liu brother, Shaolin Sandor, who was disqualified by the judges in the final on Monday.

The judges in general - the mixed team in the first competition had already benefited from their decisions, and especially a team that is familiar with controversial judges' decisions in this full-contact frenzy sees red in the face of the Chinese successes.

Everything sparkling clean

The Koreans needed to talk, even before the 111.12 meter long track got busy again on Wednesday.

Lee Kee-heung, President of the Korean Olympic Committee and a member of the International Olympic Committee, and Yoon Hong-geung of the Korea Skating Union linked up with Jan Dijkema, President of the International Skating Union (ISU).

Tenor: The punishment of the Korean skaters on Monday - in favor of the Chinese - shows the clear discrimination of the Koreans by the ISU referees.

Unsurprisingly, the world association, whose rules apply the principle of factual decision-making for penalties imposed on the basis of video evidence, stuck to its stance: everything spotless.

It was also said in 2018, when the Koreans won three out of eight possible gold medals at their home games in Gangneung and could live with the decisions of the judges, as they were mostly not to their disadvantage.

But now into the Hallenstadion, where on Wednesday the men will skate, wrestle and protest for the Olympic victory over 1500 meters.

Already in the second quarter-final the Italian Pietro Sighel is taken out of the ranking because of blocking, the Chinese world-class runner Sun Long moves up.

But only in fourth place.

missed semifinals.

Ren Ziwei, Monday's winner, does better in heat six.

Confident Victory.

Perhaps 300 spectators invited to the hall swing the designated flags and applaud.

The Chinese journalists too.

Otherwise it remains quiet in the hall.

The calm that lingers over the competitions is in stark contrast to the volume with which Chinese television celebrates the successes of the short trackers.

Hinted bow, exit Ren

In the semifinals, the Koreans get loud.

Lee June-seo and Hwang Dae-heon, disqualified in the semi-finals over 1000 meters, win their races and are in the final.

Korean TV applauds.

The matter is highly emotional for the Koreans.

In preparation for the games, the Chinese have hired the architect of their successes: Coach Kim Sun-tae, the Pyeongchang Games success coach.

And he brought along Ahn Hyun-soo, also known as Victor Ahn, the most successful short tracker in Olympic history, as his assistant.

The Yonhap news agency complained that the short track is now like Korea's pride at the summer games: In archery, the successful Korean coaches have also been bought.

In the third semifinal, Park Janghyuk crossed the line in second, ahead of China's hero Ren Ziwei.

Ren is subsequently disqualified.

The viewers take note of it without much emotion.

Cheers echoed through the Hallenstadion from the presenter's position on Korean television.

Fifteen minutes later, Ren Ziwei is standing in the mixed zone in front of 30 or 40 Chinese reporters, and when the volunteers from the organizing committee have sorted the cell phones in front of him, they listen intently to the hero.

When Ren is finished, there is short applause.

Hinted bow, exit Ren.

The final lasts 129 seconds.

Hwang Dae-hon dominates from the front, has everything under control.

No opponent in red in the final, tonight is Korea's night.

After that, Hwang Dae-hon does a few more laps alone on the ice, South Korea's flag in hand.

Revenge succeeded, honor restored.

Silver won the Canadian Steven Dubois, bronze Semen Jelistratow for the Russian Olympic Committee.

"As a Korean, I'm very proud," says Hwang afterwards: "Our complaints came after the races, which were very dirty.

It was a clean race today.

That was our strategy.” Korea's journalists applaud.