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Does photo finish show South Korean snowboarder actually losing?

South Korean snowboarder Lee Sang-Ho recorded one of the closest victories of the Winter Olympics, beating out Slovenia’s Zan Kosir by .01 in the semifnals of the parallel giant slalom event.

But should the result have been the other way around? NBC’s angles of the finish line appeared to show both Kosir’s board and hand crossing the line both well ahead of Lee’s board and hand. (The winner is the first racer who crosses the line with any part of his body.)

And here you thought you’d put bad replay decisions behind you with the end of the NFL season.

Even Kosir thought he had won, raising his arms in celebration after crossing the line. He also loudly protested after watching a replay alongside Lee.

But no change was made. Lee advanced to the final, where he lost to Nevin Galmarini of Switzerland. Kosir salvaged a medal by winning the bronze medal race.

It’s possible that the angle shown on television was deceiving since it wasn’t straight on. But what do you think? Did Kosir deserve to be in the finals instead? Did the equipment malfunction? Was Lee the recipient of homefield advantage like the South Korean soccer team at the 2002 World Cup?

The IOC has some questions to answer.

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(NBC screenshot)
(NBC screenshot)