The shenanigans in the Olympics may be
as interesting as the contests on the field of play. I have been
watching boxing matches and seen a number of fighters who clearly won
their fights denied the decision and turned into losers by either
incompetent or dishonest referees. But cheating in the Olympics goes
back along way. I guess the era of the 6o's was the worst for dishonest h
judging and cheating athletes. Then Soviet and Eastern European
contestants were so pumped full of performance enhancing steroids and
other drugs that they not only won the events they floated to the award
ceremonies..... It was a time when one had to be man....sort of, as in
chemically enhanced...to be an East German swimmer. And communist judges
often traded high scores for one athlete from one Eastern European
block countries in return for high scores for their countryman in order
to help spread the idea that communism is best because communist
countries win the most medals.
Earlier this week at the Games, the coach of the Japanese women's soccer team persuaded his team to play for a 0-0 tie with South Africa on Tuesday to avoid a quarterfinals trip to the more skilled team form Scotland. But the biggest scandal of the many that are emerging at this year's Olympic games involves the eight women who were disqualified from their badminton teams for planning to lose their matches in order to play easier matches in the following rounds. Is not playing to win cheating or strategizing? In my view it is just as much cheating as is using performance enhancing rugs or using cheating in scoring by corrupt judges. The point of the Games is to try as hard as one can. That is the Olympic idea...the contest, not the end result. (and think about the person who bet on the contest and was cheated because his team did not try to score)
The cheating in badminton started when the women's South Korean team played against the women's China team on Wednesday. The fans in the arena as well as the officials began to notice something was up when both teams seemed to be trying hard to lose, rather than win. Officials warned both teams, and at one point a black card was flashed, indicating disqualification, although the game continued.
The cheating was being blamed on a rule that whomever loses the first round will proceed to a round to play an easier team later, Later, when another women's team from South Korea played against Indonesia, the same thing happened. In the end, both teams were booed by fans, and the umpires had to warn them several times to no avail. Eventually, the four teams ended up in an inquiry, which resulted in them being disqualified. Indonesia blamed China for "starting it", using the tried and true toddler excuse, "You did it first"! Well, these athletes may have great talent in their sports. But as humans they fall short of the finish line.
Cheating is not good for the sport, for the athletes, and for the spectators who buy the tickets to see the match. But some Olympic athletes sometimes just don't they didn't get that. It's fair for them to be disqualified and to be called cheaters
Earlier this week at the Games, the coach of the Japanese women's soccer team persuaded his team to play for a 0-0 tie with South Africa on Tuesday to avoid a quarterfinals trip to the more skilled team form Scotland. But the biggest scandal of the many that are emerging at this year's Olympic games involves the eight women who were disqualified from their badminton teams for planning to lose their matches in order to play easier matches in the following rounds. Is not playing to win cheating or strategizing? In my view it is just as much cheating as is using performance enhancing rugs or using cheating in scoring by corrupt judges. The point of the Games is to try as hard as one can. That is the Olympic idea...the contest, not the end result. (and think about the person who bet on the contest and was cheated because his team did not try to score)
The cheating in badminton started when the women's South Korean team played against the women's China team on Wednesday. The fans in the arena as well as the officials began to notice something was up when both teams seemed to be trying hard to lose, rather than win. Officials warned both teams, and at one point a black card was flashed, indicating disqualification, although the game continued.
The cheating was being blamed on a rule that whomever loses the first round will proceed to a round to play an easier team later, Later, when another women's team from South Korea played against Indonesia, the same thing happened. In the end, both teams were booed by fans, and the umpires had to warn them several times to no avail. Eventually, the four teams ended up in an inquiry, which resulted in them being disqualified. Indonesia blamed China for "starting it", using the tried and true toddler excuse, "You did it first"! Well, these athletes may have great talent in their sports. But as humans they fall short of the finish line.
Cheating is not good for the sport, for the athletes, and for the spectators who buy the tickets to see the match. But some Olympic athletes sometimes just don't they didn't get that. It's fair for them to be disqualified and to be called cheaters
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