Fans accused a Chinese racer of deliberately taking out her opponent in the latest Olympic speed skating controversy

• Speed skating has been shrouded in controversy at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
• Some fans have now accused Chinese skater Fan Kexin of deliberately tripping an opponent.

A Chinese speed skater has been accused by some fans of deliberately taking out an opponent in the latest in a growing list of controversies surrounding the sport at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In footage from the quarterfinals of the women's 500 meters race on Monday, China's Fan Kexin appears to flick a marker placed on the ice rink into the skates of Canadian competitor Alyson Charles, causing both racers to crash out.

Charles' compatriot Florence Brunelle was initially blamed for causing the fall.

Even though she came in second place, because it was her second penalty, Brunelle was disqualified from the race, allowing Italy's Arianna Valcepina to claim second.

Fortunately for Charles, she was still allowed to qualify for the semifinals as she was in the second spot before tripping and the fall was not her fault.

A video of the incident was shared on Reddit and received three million views before being deleted, though it has since been shared widely on Twitter.

One Redditor said of the incident: "Took me several views to see that the hand throwing the puck actually belongs to the skater on the outside, snaking an arm past the Canadian skater on the inside of the turn. Gotta say, the cheating shows amazing precision and coordination. Truly Olympic level cheat."

Another Twitter user compared it to a scene from "Mario Kart" while another said: "Unless a fool looked at the footage, it was the Chinese skaters hand that flicked the marker. Look at it. My God so obvious."

Rob Williams, a Canadian sports reporter for Daily Hive, penned an article on the drama, writing: "Was this speed skating sabotage, or merely incidental contact in a high-speed race?"

Sharing the article on social media, Williams said: "The slow motion replay from this morning's short track speed skating event looks suspect."

Chinese fans, however, defended Fan, saying her actions were not deliberate.

"If you look closely, Fan Kexin's arm was pushed forward by the Canadian athlete's knee," one Weibo user wrote, per Newsweek.

Ultimately, it is not clear if Fan's actions were deliberate, and they clearly did not benefit her given that she crashed out alongside Charles. She had already won gold in the 2,000 meter mixed relay event on Saturday.

Controversy surrounds the Beijing Olympic speed skating events

Accusations against Fan are just the latest in a string of contentious incidents during speed skating events in Beijing.

In the final of the men's 1,000-meter short-track event on Monday, China's Ren Ren Ziwei beat Hungary's Shaolin Sándor Liu under controversial circumstances.

Liu initially won the race, however was then given two penalties for changing lanes and hitting Ren, and using his left hand to obstruct Ren.

Ren, who appeared to retaliate by shoving Liu with both hands, was not punished and was awarded the gold medal.

Ren was later disqualified from the semifinals of the 1,500 meter short-track race for his own indiscretions.

Following Saturday's mixed team relay, South Korea's Kwak Yoon-gy spoke out after China survived a semifinal race only because of the disqualification of the Russian Olympic Committee and US teams.

Both teams had finished ahead of the host nation, but a video review saw the ROC earn a penalty for "causing obstruction," while the US was docked for "blocking."

China went on to win gold in the final.

"Looking at the way China won the gold medal, I felt bad that my younger teammates had to watch something like that," Kwak said. "I thought to myself, 'Is this really what winning a gold medal is all about?' Things all just felt very hollow."

In Monday's men's 1,000-meter semifinals, a South Korean duo were disqualified for illegal late passing and lane changing.

The decision allowed two Chinese skaters to advance to the final, prompting South Korea to lodge a complaint with the International Skating Union over the decision, which was rejected.