"What's wrong with Cha Junhwan's score?"Newsweek and other foreign media, experts, and fans are outraged." [K-EYES]

*This content was translated by AI.

"What should I add to get 9 points?""'Tonight's star was Cha Junhwan"

*[K-EYES] is a corner that introduces K-content and global perspectives on K-culture and K-everything.

"What should Cha do more to get a composition score of 9?" It seems to us that it is already at that level. He's a world championship silver medalist, and he's done just as well in Milan."

Inside Skating, a U.S. figure skating media outlet, strongly challenged Cha Joon-hwan (25)'s score in the men's single short program at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics on the 10th (local time).

On the 10th, the U.S. weekly Newsweek Online published an article titled "Fury Erups Online as Fans Call Olympic Figure Skating Judging 'Rigged'". "The main characters of the day were not the top three," Newsweek said. "It was Cha Jun-hwan of Korea."

At the short program held at the Milan Ice Skating Arena, Cha Joon-hwan received 50.08 points in technical score (TES) and 42.64 points in artistic score (PCS), ranking sixth with a total score of 92.72. Ilya Malinin of the U.S. with 108.16 points, followed by Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, and Adam Xiao Himpa of France in third place.

However, figure skating fans and experts around the world who saw Cha's performance on site and online were stunned when the score came out. "Cha Jun-hwan impressed the audience and millions of viewers around the world with his amazing short program performance, and was believed to be able to compete for a medal," Newsweek reported. "But the score came out much lower than they believed."

On social media X (formerly Twitter), anger over Cha Jun-hwan's score exploded. A fan said, "Cha Jun-hwan performed the best performance of his life, but he was not happy for two minutes. What the hell is 92 points or PCS 42 points?" Inside Skating said, "The program had to get nine points in composition, representation and skating skills. I can't ride better than this, he said. "42.64 points is too little."

Figure skating expert Jackie Wong said, "Honestly, I should have given about 47 PCS points. One of the best short programs of the season." Another expert said, "If Cha had received the level he deserved, GOE (Technical Performance Score), and PCS, there would have been only two players who could catch up with him in this competition," adding, "Step sequence level 3 is crazy. He was robbed," he vented.

In fact, four of the nine judges rated Cha Jun-hwan fourth and one fifth. The problem is that the remaining four ranked extremely low, ranking 7th and 9th. The fans pointed out, "European referees are the problem," adding, "We ranked Peter (Grathl, Italy) 4th and June 9th."

There was also praise from overseas commentators. German commentator Daniel saw Cha Jun-hwan's quad Salco and cheered, "Perfekt, Wunderschön," and "Young man, you're good." "It's an amazing performance by Korea's J.C.," he said. "He just exceeded Thor's skill score, and he'll get a lot of art scores." "It's a magical performance," he said. "I heard that he wanted to become an actor, singer, and figure skater since he was a child, and I think he found that he could combine all of that in figure skating."

Japanese commentator Machida praised it as "probably the highest quality step sequence in the world this season," adding, "The accuracy of the edge, the richness of the body movement, and the music expression are all excellent."

"It was perfect," British commentator Belinda said. "He's a complete skater and he needs to get a composition score of 9.5 points. What more do you want?" She expected to be in the 100-point club, but was embarrassed to see that the referees had given her eight points.

The Reddit figure skating community reacted enthusiastically to an article link-sharing post on Newsweek's website. One fan said, "I love how this article came out. "I was used to figure skating fans screaming into the air alone," he said. "Cha Jun-hwan's score was the most unfair and upsetting thing." Another fan said, "I hope Cha Jun-hwan sees this article and believes in himself. I hope the online enthusiasm will put pressure on the judges to recognize the artistry," he added.

"Cha Jun-hwan will have a chance to win a bronze medal in free skating on the 13th (Korea time), but the anger of figure skating fans around the world will not subside over the next two days," Newsweek said.

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*This content was translated by AI.