Lee has denied the allegations but Kwak Yoon-gy, who won a silver medal in Vancouver, has admitted the charges and also been banned until 2013.

The scandal could hardly have come at a worst time for Korean sport with Pyeongchang bidding for the 2018 Winter Olympics and South Korea among the candidates for the 2022 World Cup.

The Korea Skating Union (KSU) announced that it had banned Lee and Kwak from all competitions until April 2013, as punishment for allegedly helping to rig competitions and national team trials in March.

The two athletes have seven days to file an appeal.

The penalty is heavier than the one-year ban proposed by a special joint commission of inquiry that convened last month, made up of representatives from Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) and the KSU.

Jeon Jae-mok, who coached the Korean team, was permanently banned from the sport for masterminding results of national team trials, as recommended by the commission.

Lee, 20, who won golds at the Vancouver Olympics in the 1,000 and 1,500 metres races, denied all accusations of helping with Jeon fix races, claiming that he is a victim "of deep-rooted and wrongful practices on the local sport scene".

Kwak, 21, silver medalist in the men's 5,000m relay alongside Lee, however, admitted the charge.

The investigation had started in March after the KOC began investigating rumours that some athletes had been forced to withdraw from national trials and and that results had been fabricated to secure spots in favour of their own athletes

Lee, 20, claimed that he was victim of institutionalised race-fixing.

Earlier this year, he alleged that Jeon forced him to pull out of the World Championships so that Kwak could compete and that he had been made to submit a signed document prior to the competition that he would drop out due to an ankle injury, which transpired to be fake.

But the disciplinary panel ruled that Lee had conspired with Kwak (pictured) to receive help in the national team qualifying competitions last year, after members reviewed recorded footage of his race in the tournament.

A spokesman for the KSU said: "The committee watched the men's 1,000m semi-final replay over and over.

"They reached the conclusion that Lee seemed to have benefited from Kwak's actions.''

Kwak said: "Following my coach's orders, I was behind him to block others and stopped Lee from falling.

"As everyone saw in the 1,000m semi-final replay, if I didn't help him I could have overtaken Lee to cross the finish line first.''

Lee, though, hit back at the claims and protested his innocence. 

He said: "Never did I get the help from my teammates in last year's national team trials.

"The national team tryout is the most important of all competitions.
"My only dream since starting my career has been winning an Olympic medal.

"In that way, I competed extremely strictly and fairly, never discussing such a deal."

Lee and Kwak were part of the most successful-ever South Korean team to compete in the Winter Olympics.

The team won 14 medals, including six gold, which was seen as a major boost for Pyeongchang's bid to host the 2018 Olympics and Paralympics.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected] 


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