Thursday, August 2, 2012

Olympic Spirit cannot tolerate Throwing Matches

Olympic Spirit cannot tolerate Throwing Matches
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
August 3, 2012


Summary: On the fifth day of the London Olympics, one of the ugliest scandals in Olympic history took place. Eight women badminton players from Mainland China, South Korea, and Indonesia, deliberately threw matches to avoid more powerful competitors. The World Badminton Federation disqualified the players for violating player guidelines. These players have lost face for themselves, their countries, and the Olympics.

Full Text below:

On the fifth day of the London Olympics, one of the ugliest scandals in Olympic history took place. Eight women badminton players from Mainland China, South Korea, and Indonesia, deliberately threw matches to avoid more powerful competitors. The World Badminton Federation disqualified the players for violating player guidelines. These players have lost face for themselves, their countries, and the Olympics.

Throwing these matches was an outrage, These players threw these matches right in front of 6000 spectators. They pretended they could not return serves, or deliberately returned them out of bounds. They deliberately gave away points to their opponents. Seeing this, many fans booed. Twice, the referee issued black cards. He warned players that they must actively attack and defend. The quadrennial Olympic Games represents the pinnacle of world sports. How can it tolerate players manipulating the audience and the judges, and trampling over the sport?

Let us carefully study the events surrounding these incidents. The most blameworthy is the Mainland China team, which initiated this tactic. Yu Yang and Wang Li are the world's best women's doubles players. They should have shown their fans their best game. Instead, they deliberately lost to rival South Korea in the preliminaries to avoid a premature encounter with another group of Mainland players. Their hoped the Mainland team would eventually win both the gold and the silver. They wanted to keep it "all in the family." This Mainland team strategy received a warning from the referee. The South Korean team also expressed disapproval. Predictably, the South Korean team soon began copying the Mainland strategy. It soon began throwing its match against the weaker Indonesian team. Its outrageous behavior was more than the audience could bear.

Once the dispute arose, these teams defended their actions. They claimed they were making "reasonable use of the rules of the game." They claimed that "throwing matches" was a commonly used strategy, and that it was not illegal. Their attitude evinced a lack of introspection, and worse, opportunism. It unconsciously introduced bad practices into the Olympic Games. The Olympic Badminton Federation adopted a new round robin elimination format. Its purpose was to avoid eliminating strong competitors prematurely as a result of bad luck. Who knew that the Mainland Chinese and South Korean teams would abuse the goodwill of the Olympics Committee, and use this foreknowledge of their opponents to throw matches? Especially regrettable was that the first to throw matches were the world's top two players. Confronted with such naked fraud, the Olympic Badminton Federation dealt with the matter harshly. Otherwise how could it uphold the reputation of the sport and the spirit of competition?

Looking further ahead individual gold medal competitors must not throw matches based on their own discretion. Such decisions must be left to coaches. They must be tactical decisions by the coaching staff as a whole. Yu Yang and Wang Li lost their bids for gold. But they have only themselves to blame. These Asian nations' victory at any price values call for deep introspection. There is no shame in losing the gold as long as one competes with all one's might. But these shameful losses were the result of certain coaches' calcuations. The damage done to the reputation of the players and the sport is irreparable. Actually, the players are the victims rather than the culprits. The accusing finger of public opinion must not be misdirected.

The Olympic Games are the arena for the world's top players. It is the temple to the pursuit of the highest ideals of sports. The ideals people champion are "faster, higher, farther," not "gold, silver and bronze." During the current Olympic Games many competitors from Mainland China were proud winners of Olympic medals. But the badminton match throwing incident has exposed the dark side of sports. The horse may already have been stolen. But the barn door must be repaired regardless.

The Olympic Committee disqualified players who threw matches. The soul-searching on the Chinese Mainland appears louder than in South Korea. The public and the government have been critical of the match throwing. They say dignity and integrity are more important than gold medals. This at least is a welcome phenomenon. Since the opening of the London Olympics, Mainland society has engaged in two waves of soul-searching. One. The opening ceremonies demonstrated the power of culture. This impressed the world more than the power of the state. Two. The players' behavior led to the recognition that sportsmanship is more important than gold medals.

A silver medal weight lifter who failed to win the gold wept apologetically. He said "I apologize to my country. I apologize to everyone." Many netizens responded, "You need not apologize. The nation should apologize to you." The myth of the gold medal must be shattered. Only then will the true spirit of the Olympics return. Only then will players cease to be mindless robots programmed to win medals.

The Badminton Federation's actions did not jointly and severally punish coaches or players. Player disqualifications were limited to the current Olympic Games. The iron fist showed mercy. But it was sufficient to teach the various nations' players a lesson. Bring back the spirit of the Olympics. Do not introduce various nations' bad habits into the Olympic Games.
   
「奧運精神」不容「消極比賽」
【聯合報╱社論】
2012.08.03 02:50 am

倫敦奧運第五天,發生了奧運史上最醜陋的「打假球」事件。包括中國、南韓及印尼的八名女子羽球選手為迴避強敵而故意「消極比賽」,遭到世界羽球總會以「違反球員準則」取消資格,這些選手讓自己及自己的國家丟臉,也讓奧運蒙羞。

這次的假球事件之所以令人憤怒,是因為這些選手當著六千觀眾公然放水,或者假裝接不到球,或者故意把球打出界外,平白送分給對手。許多觀眾都看出端倪,發出滿場噓聲;裁判甚至兩度出示「黑牌」,進場警告雙方選手要積極攻防。四年一度的奧林匹克運動會,代表的是全球運動員競技的頂峰,豈容心懷鬼胎的球員在那裡戲弄觀眾及裁判、踐踏運動精神?

細究事件原委,最該譴責的,是始作俑者的中國大陸隊。于洋及王曉理是排名世界第一的女雙好手,原應在場上一展絕技以饗球迷,她們卻為了避免與另一組大陸選手過早遭遇,故意在預賽放水敗給對手南韓。其主要盤算,是希望大陸隊的兩組最後能同時包辦金銀牌,肥水不入外人田。大陸隊的作法,遭到了裁判警告,南韓隊也頗表不以為然;孰料,南韓旋即東施效顰,另一組隨後上場的選手也向較弱的印尼隊打起假球。倨傲、離譜的表現,讓現場觀眾忍無可忍。

爭議發生後,這些隊伍還振振有詞,自稱是「合理利用比賽規則」,更狡辯說「消極比賽」是一般常用的戰略,並無不法。這種態度,不僅缺乏反省,更把投機、造假惡習帶進奧運而不自知。事實上,這次奧運羽球採取「分組單循環、決賽淘汰」的新制,目的是為避免好手因些微意外遭到淘汰;想不到,中、韓等隊伍卻誤用大會的善意,利用預知對手的機會打起假球。尤令人遺憾的,是率先上場放水的,竟是名列世界第一的兩名好手。面對如此赤裸裸的運動詐騙術,奧會及羽球總會若不痛下鐵腕處置,如何維繫羽球的聲譽和運動員的奮戰精神?

進一步看,金牌選手在場上打假球,應該不是球員個人的一時興起,而是教練授意,甚至是教練團的集體戰術指導。亦即,于洋及王曉理喪失奪金資格固係咎由自取,但這些亞洲國家體育界為了爭取名次而不擇手段的矯詐文化,恐怕更該深刻反省。如果是全力拚搏而輸球,丟金並不可恥;但由於教練團爭牌的算計,而造成輸球又丟人,這對球員的聲譽及運動生命的傷害是無可彌補的,她們其實是犧牲品而非罪魁,輿論指責矛頭不能失焦。

奧運不僅是全球頂尖好手的競技場,也是人類追逐極致運動精神的聖殿。人們崇尚的是「更快、更高、更遠」的理想,而不僅是金、銀、銅牌的名次。這次奧運,中國大陸獲得的獎牌數傲居世界首位,可堪自豪;但羽球放水事件,卻也暴露其運動精神及體育文化貧瘠的一面,必須亡羊補牢。

值得注意的是,大會宣布放水球員失格後,中國大陸內部的反省聲音似乎比南韓清晰,輿論及官方媒體都對打假球事件發出批評,要求尊嚴和品格比金牌更重要,這至少是個可喜的現象。事實上,倫敦奧運開幕後,中國民間社會有兩股正面的反思浪潮:一是從開幕式看到「文化的力量」比「國家的力量」更能打動世界;二是從選手背後的種種故事認知「運動精神」比「金牌數目」重要。

也因此,當一位銀牌舉重選手為未能奪金而痛哭致歉說「我對不起祖國,對不起大家」時,不少網民回應他:「你不必道歉,是國家對不起你。」只有當「金牌迷思」打破,真正的運動精神才能回到人的身上,球員才不會被當成操練機器及奪牌工具。

羽球總會這次的處分,並未連帶處分教練或球團,球員失格也僅限此次奧運,鐵腕下依然留情,但已足供各國球員引為殷鑑:請把奧運的美好精神帶回國內,勿將各國的陋習帶進奧運。

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