8 players disqualified from London Olympics for throwing games.
Amongst all the hype and excitement of the 2012 London
Olympic Games, there was a dark moment that happened on the badminton courts on
August the 1st. Eight players in the women’s doubles competition
were thrown out following an inquiry by the Badminton World Federation in
London. (The Telegraph) These eight players were accused of wanting to lose, in
order to manipulate the draw for the knockout stages for the Olympics. (BBC) As
a result of these disqualifications it also meant that the world number one
pair of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang of China were also thrown out of the
competition (CNN), causing much uproar amongst Chinese fans.
Due to the fact that Chinese pair
Tian Quing and Zhao Yunlei had won their match, if Yu and Wang had lost then
the only time they would have faced each other was in the finals. (BBC) The
crowd was not oblivious to what was going on either, with the onlookers booing
and hissing as all the teams from Asia were intentionally playing poorly in
order to be better positioned for the knockout rounds of the competition. (The
Daily Beast) The WBF have said in their statement that the pairs have been
charged with “not using ones best efforts to win a match” and “conducting oneself
in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport”. (The
Telegraph)
Due to the fact that this is the
first time Badminton was being played in a round robin format it allowed for
players to manipulate “dead rubber” games to their advantage. This was also
admitted to by South Korea head coach Sung Han-kook, who said that they
attempted to throw their games against the Indonesians and the Chinese.
Although he did concede that these tactic were only in retaliation against the
Chinese team who started the problem of purposefully losing. This comes as much
of a surprise to many fans of badminton, as badminton in China is its national
sport. To think that a nation who is so proud of its badminton skill and
success would even think of throwing games was not even a thought. As soon as
Yu and Wang were thrown out of the Olympic Games, Yu promptly went on Chinese
state television and issued an apology and sought out forgiveness. “We did not
comply with the Olympic spirit, and did not deliver a match with our true level
to the audience, the fans and the friends.” The pressure even turned out to be
too much for Yu Yang as she even announced her imminent retirement from the
sport as a result of the scandal.
The fact that people were found
to be deliberately losing games in badminton is bad enough, but what I find
makes it worse is the fact it was being done at the Olympic Games. The Olympic
Games is the pinnacle of sporting success, it shows the world the best athletes
doing the best at what their sport is. To go against everything that the
Olympics stand for is outrageous, to throw games whilst being at the highest
level in sport, when others would have done anything to be in their position is
just not right. The punishment that these players received I found were just,
there is no bigger offense you could commit, besides drug related offenses, than
going against the Olympic Spirit, which is all the Olympics represent. From
what reports said on how the WBF handled this situation and how it will handle,
if there are any, similar offenses then I believe purposeful losing will soon
become a thing of the past.
References:
Kelso P. (2012, August 1).
Badminton pairs expelled from London 2012 Olympics after ‘match-fixing’
scandal.
The
Telegraph, Retrieved from
Greene R. (2012, August 2). Olympic Badminton Players
Disqualified for Trying to Lose.
CNN,
Retrieved from
(2012, August 1). Olympics Badminton: Eight Women
Disqualified from Doubles.
BBC
Sport Olympics, Retrieved from
Levin D. (2012, August 2). Olympics Badminton Scandal Rocks
china.
The
Daily Beast, Retrieved from
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/02/olympics-badminton-scandal-rocks-china.html
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