Video has emerged of a US figure skater supposedly slashing her South Korean competitor’s leg with her skate blade during warm-ups at a Japanese arena — and the footage does not appear to show an intentional kick as originally described by the injured girl’s reps.
In the March 20 video, obtained by NBC News, American skater Mariah Bell, 22, appears focused on turning, her right leg extended behind her, as she approaches Lim Eun-soo close to the boards of the rink.
Bell appears to be immersed in practicing her program and does not look at Lim or break or change her form as her right skate grazes Lim’s calf, according to the clip, which was shot from the stands by a spectator.
Lim’s leg injury did not prevent her from competing — in fact, she scored a personal best and came in fifth during that day’s competition.
But an unnamed rep stoked an “I, Tonya” controversy Thursday by telling a Korean news outlet that Bell had been bullying the younger skater, then “suddenly kicked and stabbed Lim’s calf” intentionally and without an apology.
Since then, Bell, of Colorado, has apologized, insisting she was unaware of having injured Lim. The US team has also apologized to the South Korean team, and the Korean Skating Union has issued a statement saying that after viewing video of the incident, they see no evidence of an intentional attack.
Meanwhile, French figure skater Romain Ponsart, Bell’s boyfriend, took to Instagram to call Lim a liar.
The initial controversy prompted comparisons to the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan kneecapping incident ahead of the 1994 Winter Olympics.
On Friday, Bell finished the competition — the International Skating Union World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama — in ninth place overall.
Lim finished 10th.