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S Korea request skating review

South Korea have demanded a review of the controversial Olympic Games women's figure skating competition which saw national heroine Kim Yu Na beaten to gold by Russia's Adelina Sotnikova.

Defending Olympic champion Kim (below) was relegated to the silver medal position by the Russian 17-year-old in Thursday's free skate despite putting in an error-free performance. She was beaten by 5.48 points.

It was a decision which prompted accusations of judges being influenced by the passionate support of the crowd to guarantee a victory for the host nation.

Within hours, the website of the popular online campaigning forum, Change.org, crashed and almost two million have now logged on to sign a petition calling for a review of the judges' scores.

In a new twist, the South Korean Skating Union has written to the International Skating Union (ISU) to review whether or not the judging was accurate.

"The South Korean team in Sochi have politely requested the Korean Skating Union to ask ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta to review the women's figure skating singles (to see) if it followed the rules of ISU standards," said a statement.

Sotnikova's victory has polarised the sport with Russian coaches and officials vigorously defending the teenager and dismissing allegations of a plot.

One of the nine judges at Thursday's final was Ukrainian Yuri Balkov, who was suspended for a year for his involvement in a fixing scandal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics ice dancing competition.

Another judge, Alla Shekhovtseva, is married to Russian federation general director Valentin Piseyev. - AFP.