2012 Olympic Debacles. Post 'em here!

Ok, so I just finished watching one of the most absurdly-ref'd boxing matches I'd ever seen with an Iranian fighter getting disqualified for, as far as I can tell, boxing.
[No link; just watched this one happen and I don't think it's hit the newswires yet.]

I then caught a discussion of a Japanese bantamweight beating the hell out of his opponent...who apparently managed to score 10 power punches via the Olympics' famed "computerized" (i.e., a handful of old guys randomly pushing buttons with a "point" going whenever 2 buttons are pressed simultaneously) scoring system while on his ass on the cavas. The fighter was scoring those points during 5 separate knockdowns, including a spectacularly fraudulent 10-second "just get yourself together and try to regain consciousness while I don't bother to count" episode.
www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/AL...8928d7de6f8132c0.d41


While looking for the highlight of the Japanese fight, I came across an article about 4 Badminton doubles teams, including the Chinese world champs, that were disqualified and tossed from the Games for deliberately trying to lose to fuck with the seeding in the opening round-robin portion of the show.
www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-olympic-...0801,0,4202500.story

Anyone else seen any WTF? officiating or atheletes demonstrating the sort of "Olympic spirit" the badminton teams showed? Post 'em here!

the badminton fiasco is all over the news here. Apparently both teams kept hitting it in to the nets at convenient times to level the scores. I haven't watched the actual matches though.

There was also a mess up in the womens Epee. My understanding is the judges didn't set the clock properly, a Korean girl won the round only for it to have to be re fought with the clock set again. The second time she lost. So she sat on the stage and cried for about 30mins, poor girl.

Yep, four women's doubles badminton teams sent home, including the top seed Chinese team. Because of group play rules, and an early upset of the SECOND seed Chinese team, the top team and their Korean opponents were both trying it lose to avoid facing that team in the first elimination round. The Koreans because they would likely lose, and the Cjhinese because they would rather play compatriots in the gold/silver finals. Similar thinking in another match also led to poor play. I am glad they are gone, it was just horrible to watch. I had watched that Chinese team just erase a Russian team earlier and their play was so embarrassingly bad in this match, it was obvious to all.

The fencing one is being really weirdly discussed out of context. This match decided who would go to the gold/ silver match. With 1 second left, the Koreannwas up by 1 and basically could run away for the win, which she did. But they did not start the clock, so she ran out of room, and then was touched, so the other fencer won. Korea appealed, as they noted, correctly, that the clock did not start. Tournament rules state a fencer cannot leave the fencing area while appealing. Appeals must be PAID FOR, so while the Korean team ran back to get money for this, which took an hour, she had to just sit there and weep in front of everyone. She lost her appeal, because these kinds of mistakes suck but don't get overruled, and then had to almost immediately come back to the arena for the Bronze medal match, which she lost by a ton.

GREAT STORY.

In a discussion on another site, someone with much more fencing experience also pointed out that the ref allowed the fencers to start too close together, allowing the German competitor to close much faster and get that critical touch.

We saw the bullshit appeal stuff in the men's team gymnastics competition, when the Japanese coach was standing in front of the judges with a wad of $100 bills in his hand after the scores were up. It took some quick explaining from the commentators to make sense of that. (Although, it still makes no sense. The IOC can't take a check?)

Rule 1: Even though Visa is the official and only credit card in the Olympics, you'd still better bring $1000 in cold hard cash to compete. You might need it.

I guess the whole point of the cash for appeal thing is to make sure there aren't frivolous appeals, as they take a lot of time to investigate.

This seems to fit the theme of the thread:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2182391...east-underwater.html

lol @ "there are families watching, I don't think that's legal"

egads! A boobie!

Indonesian badminton players deliberately lose to avoid China. Disqualified. Wheeeee!

The badminton thing is just ridiculous.

If you're going to create a tournament system for your sport that can be gamed by losing matches, you're not allowed to be upset when players or teams game your system by losing matches.

Stonecutter wrote: badminton is just ridiculous.

Fixed that for you.

Can't wait until Beer Pong and Horseshoes become Olympic events too. How about Cup Stacking after them? Cornhole?

Stonecutter wrote: The badminton thing is just ridiculous.

If you're going to create a tournament system for your sport that can be gamed by losing matches, you're not allowed to be upset when players or teams game your system by losing matches.

. . . unless your ass weighs a ton in a phoney-baloney crony job where you get anything you want. At that point I think it's stipulated in the rules.

I tried to explain this to a guy at a Pokemon Tournament where you got 2 points for a win and 1 point for a loss. He had gone 9-0, undefeated and picked up 18 points. Another guy had gone 8-4 and picked up 20 points and taken the trophy. The first guy was grinding his teeth over it because his "perfect record accounted for nothing." He was right -- his perfect record DID account for nothing. He showed up to play Pokemon instead of Pokemon Tournament. The rules were pretty clear about who would win.

What's remarkable in the badminton is that no one considered the concept when they set up the rules. They had eight-year-olds set up the tourney? The only reason anyone noticed these teams doing it is because BOTH teams were trying to lose in both games. It's kind of hard to hide it in that situation. I'd be curious to know how many other teams threw games when their opponents were still trying to win. That would be much harder to detect.

One last thing -- they kept calling it a "round-robin" where you play someone different based on your result. I thought round-robin meant you played everyone in your division.

S.

Dogmatix:
The holding the head down for an uppercut is pretty illegal in the Olympics.
That Japanese boxer was beat to shit the first 4 rounds, and it was only in the last round that he came back. It would've been close, had that other guy not fallen on his arse 5 times. Last time I checked 3 knockdowns is a TKO....and that "deep breaths, mate" pause was abhorrent.

What.The.Fuck

yeah round robin means you play everyone but then after the results of the round robin are done, it determines who you fight next. If you were 3-0 and China was 0-4, you'd want to lose your last match to avoid China. That's my understanding of a round robin.

Has anyone watched the Indonesia match? It must be hilarious to watch two teams trying to lose, no? We've seen this in professional hockey right before playoffs. Sometimes teams intentionally lose their last game to get a better pairing for the playoffs. The players don't try to lose, the coach does. All of a sudden none of the stay players show up to the game (they are resting for playoffs) and all the rookies are desperately trying to not slip on the ice.

The boxing decision was overturned: deadspin.com/5931226/was-this-disgracefu...c-boxing-match-fixed

Key line there at the end: The judges, apparently, remain beyond reproach.

Jackwraith wrote: The boxing decision was overturned: deadspin.com/5931226/was-this-disgracefu...c-boxing-match-fixed

Key line there at the end: The judges, apparently, remain beyond reproach.

This was the one I wanted more info on. That guy hit the canvas again and again. Even if a few were trips, he went down so often there is no way to rule on this. The ref just politely asking him to stand up four or five times was just insane. He must have forgotten the whole "counting" thing when a dude's face is on the ground.

Mind you, Olympic boxing is not like... whatever regular boxing is. It is exclusively about punch counts. You could be plain shit in the ring, but if your jabs land clean and look clean, you will win match after match at the Olympics. There are boxers that are pounding the opponent, but it looks mushy--they don't win at the Olympics. They win on pay-per-view.