There was no broadcast?' JTBC Choi burst into tears. Why did you keep doing "Why" short track broadcasts [Milan Olympics]

*This content was translated by AI.

A new history of Korean sports was born at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina D'Ampezzo. Choi Ga-on (18, Sehwa Girls' High School), a "snowboard hopeful," wrote the history of Korea's first Olympic gold medal in snow sports. However, controversy is brewing as the exclusive broadcaster JTBC channel did not broadcast the moment of confirmation of the championship live.

Choi Ga-on, a "genius high school girl," topped the podium with a high score of 90.25 in the women's halfpipe final held at Lvigno Snowpark in Italy on the 13th. He stood atop the podium, beating the legendary American Chloe Kim (88.00 points) and Japan's Mitsuki Ono (85.00 points).

However, this historical scene was unfortunately not delivered to many people in real-time through broadcasts. This is because JTBC, which monopolized the right to broadcast the Olympics, treated it with a single subtitle, "Choi Ga-on, Win a Snowboard Halfpipe Gold Medal," not a live broadcast on the channel.

There was a reason. At the same time, JTBC was broadcasting a short track race that traditionally received a lot of public attention live. JTBC broadcast Choi Ga-on's game live until the first period and then changed the screen to the short track that was being held at the same time. There were women's 500m short track events and men's 1,000m short track events. Choi Min-jeong ultimately failed to advance to the 500m final, but Im Jong-eon won a valuable bronze medal.

Some are criticizing the JTBC broadcast screen at the moment of Choi Ga-on's game, even if it is a short track game. At that time, Choi Ga-on's winning scene was being broadcast live on JTBC Sports Channel, not JTBC's main channel.

In this regard, JTBC said on the 13th, "The snowboard women's halfpipe event, in which Choi Ga-on participated, was originally broadcast live on JTBC and JTBC Sports, but as the short track race began, JTBC switched to short track, and the halfpipe continued to broadcast on JTBC Sports."

"If JTBC switches back to Choi Ga-on during the short track broadcast, there will be no channel to watch the short track event," he said. "Short track is a strong event of the Korean national team and is highly interested in the public, so we maintained short track broadcasts in consideration of viewers' options and operated halfpipe through JTBC Sports." "JTBC will do its best to help viewers enjoy the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in real time as much as possible," he said.

According to News 1, Kim Jong-chul, chairman of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, said in a report on the 10th, "It is regrettable that the public's viewing rights are very limited on the issue of the Olympics," adding, "Under the current law, the legal basis for forcing broadcasting rights negotiations between broadcasters is preparing to revise the law to resolve it very limitedly."

Meanwhile, halfpipe is an event that plays in the air while descending from side to side on a semi-cylindrical slope with an inclination. In consideration of the height, rotation, technique, and difficulty, the judges will score and divide the rankings. In the final, each player will perform until the first, second, and third periods to determine the final ranking based on the highest score.

In the preliminary round, Choi Ga-on took the final stage by ranking sixth. The final stage that followed. However, bad news occurred from the first period. Choi Gaon made the first jump perfectly. However, during the second jump, the board was caught on the pitch and fell like a conch. Choi Gaon, who collapsed as it was, lay unable to stand up for a while in the middle of the course. The official score is 10.

the second period that followed. Choi Gaon plucked up his courage again and started the engine. But he fell again and just came down the slope. However, in the third period, Choi Ga-on wrote a miraculous reversal drama. Choi Ga-on, who confirmed that he received 90.25 points, hugged officials and shed tears.

Earlier, JTBC secured exclusive broadcasting rights for the 2026-2032 Winter Olympics and the 2025-2030 World Cup before launching an open bid to resell broadcasting rights. However, negotiations with three terrestrial broadcasters, KBS, MBC, and SBS, were difficult, and the negotiations eventually fell through. As a result, it was decided to switch to JTBC's exclusive broadcasting and transmit it online through the Naver streaming platform 'Chijik'.

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*This content was translated by AI.