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Gold medalist Sotnikova’s Facebook activities come under scrutiny 

While debate lingers over who deserved the gold in women’s figure skating at the Sochi Olympics, controversial gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova of Russia is creating new online buzz after she reportedly “liked” photos of South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na on Facebook.

The newly-crowned Olympic champion recently followed one of Kim Yu-na’s fans on Facebook and “liked” some of the photos of the Sochi Olympic silver medalist, Korean media outlet Newsen reported.

The Russian even “liked” a photo of Kim with the caption, “Everyone knows who is the real champion,” which presumably implies that Kim is “the real champion,” not Sotnikova.

Koreans, shaken by what they call “home-cooked” judging that “robbed” Kim of the gold, have been watching Sotnikova with a critical eye.

Many deemed the Russian skater “rude” after she unexpectedly left a joint interview while Kim was speaking. It has become the norm that medalists jointly hold official interviews with the press in a common area and wait until others are finished before leaving. 

Sotnikova’s unexpected “likes” on Kim’s photos are being viewed as “incomprehensible” and “weird” for Kim’s fans, who learned from Sotnikova’s previous interviews that Kim was no more than a rival she badly wanted to outshine.

At the recently-ended Sochi Winter Games, Kim failed to defend her Olympic crown, and captured silver instead with a total of 219.11 points despite a faultless program.

Sotnikova won gold with a total of 224.59 points, which led to an uproar over the judging. A slew of experts and foreign news reports claimed the Russian skaters benefitted from the home crowd and unfairly generous judging.

By Ock Hyun-ju, Intern reporter (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)