July 31, 2012
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Boycotting the Olympics
Growing up, I loved watching the Olympics. It was a real family event where we would watch as many events that was broadcasted and with my dad cheering for China and me cheering for the US, many of these events were nerve-wracking.
As I grow older, the appeal of the Olympics isn’t as crazy as it was before. Maybe because I’m not invested into the athletes who are competing. I find myself cheering for different athletes, depending on how they are depicted by the media. I would have never dreamed to cheer for another country back in 1988 and 1992, but this year, I’m cheering for Team GB for soccer as some of my favorite players are playing on that team.
I’ve been following it as much as I can, even waking up to reading up on articles regarding events I have missed. This morning, I read about what happened to the South Corean fencer, Shin A Lam. She was in the semi-final of the women’s fencing competition, where winner of the match would advance and fight for gold. With one second left on the clock, all she needed to do was wait for the time to go out and she would have advanced. Apparently, because of a timing error, the clock was stuck at 1 second and her opponent, Britta Heidemann from Germany, was able to get connect with her epee and land a hit, resulting in her advancement.
The clock doesn’t move! (courtesy of buzzfeed.com)
As an athlete, you’re to trust that the people judging the event are fair. You trust that whatever they say is correct. As a viewer, you also have that kind of trust. In these competition, there are rarely second chances and each and every time, you’re expected to be as perfect as you can, hoping that your best is the overall best. If you make a mistake, your competitor will take advantage of that and your chance of gold, is over. You’d expect the judges and organizes to also be perfect.
So what if they’re not? What if they mess up and tell the victim of their error, “Sorry, we messed up? Wait another 4 years?” That’s unacceptable. After watching the replays, Heidemann made 3 moves to score that hit. It’s virtually impossible to do in 1 second. I have not seen a replay which shows an assumed clock of exactly 1 second and better yet, should show the clock at a 1.99 seconds to prove a point. MAYBE those 3 moves can be done in 1.99 seconds. If that was a case, an argument can be made Heidemann could have won it. But what if it took her more than 1.99 seconds to make those three moves?
I’m not partial to South Corea in any way and while I’ve taken a few courses in fencing, the event itself isn’t something I care particularly much about. But the fact that I know something like this has happened, it has negatively affected my feelings about the Olympics. One caveat for those who still don’t know the entire story, Shin then sat down on the piste and refused to get off. In fencing, once you leave the area, that means you are in agreement with the judging. She waited till Corea officially appealed the decision and apparently, in order to do so, had to wire the money to lodge the appeal. The whole thing took like 45 mins and eventually, they officials came out and announced that there was no appeal–the judge’s decision was final.
Shin, standing up defiant of the ruling before being escorted off by security.(from buzzfeed.com)I’m sure right now there is some kind of investigation going on and at the moment, I’ll just wait it out. That in fact, Heidemann was able to land her hit in 1 second or even hypothetically, 1.99 seconds. However, if the investigation results in the judges to be wrong, I don’t think I can continue watching the Olympics.
This is the Olympics we’re talking about–the highest standard of athletic competition. So call me an extremist. Sure, not watching the Olympics isn’t going to affect me in bad way, but until they resolve this issue of fairness to the athletes, I cannot support it. I want them to at least acknowledge that they messed up and even though they cannot redo the whole thing over (which they should have done in the first place), that they did in fact completely took away the dream of this athlete because of their incompetence.
Comments (20)
Wow.
here’s the thing – as much as we have technology, we are still humans making decisions, and for all the technology that we do possess, because it is built by us, it has the potential to fail, just as each and every one of us may (and can, and do). What happened to Shin is, in a sense, tragic, and I’m sure she is devastated by this decision, and it’s a shame that the judges carried out their decision in this manner.
to me, this is not a reason to completely disregard the Olympics as a whole; an event that, while it only happens every four years, is also such a touchstone in global affairs, and to watch people that you may never see again compete for the honor of a lifetime is something that while, it isn’t bad to miss the Olympics, it isn’t necessarily good either. Humans error, and humans forgive. Nothing in this life is or can be perfect, but that’s really what makes it so wonderful, after all.
@JessicaSpeak - But they had the time and chance to correct their mistake. They chose not to.
The consolation would have been a do-over. Not the best resolution, but better than letting this result stand. The judge messed up, the Olympic officials supported her despite being able to see that she messed up and allowed an incorrect result to stick. That’s not fair. For all we know, the judge could have been partial to the German contestant, especially since she’s Austrian. I’m not saying this is the case, but there’s a 0.000001% possibility.
-ray leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
@jigg - life isn’t fair – probably also a huge lesson learned in the olympics. we can’t actually say whether or not a do-over would be fair, or if they had ruled in favor of Shin, whether it would have been fair, because we don’t know what could have taken place in that last second. we just can’t take time back, and just have to live and grow from whatever life throws at us.
I read this, and I agree, it was pretty fucked up.
Whoever did the judging for that is an idiot.
yeah this was terrible. she did not deserve that kind of humiliation and mistreatment. after that, she had to do another match and of course, after what she went through, how could she compete for bronze?!
ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb3KLztldU4 watch
@petitetokio - Looks like 1:15 to me. Did you read the followup? They said they fucked up, gave her a medal as a consolation. What pissed me off was their reason saying that their timing wasn’t ready for the situation since it didn’t take into consideration of partial seconds. Bullshit. If it resetted to 1 second, then it just needs to go from 1 to 0. The time didn’t even move!
-ray leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Jeez, fencing looks like Tron.
@barron@twitter - Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb3KLztldU4
-ray leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
This Olympics is a joke. It’s a shame. the timekeeper was a 16 year old.
@JessicaSpeak - But they have instant replay! The clock did not move at all!
The FIE (The world governing body for fencing) admitted that they messed up the timing and apologized to Shin, going as far as offering her an “award.” What pisses me off further was that instead of admitting that someone failed to press the damn button to get the clock going, they said it had to do with partial seconds and it did not adequately handle the situation correctly. That’s bullshit because if the time was only on exact seconds, then it should have went from exactly 1 second to 0 seconds. Instant replay clearly shows that the clock did not move and the exchange took more than 1 second.
I don’t agree that life should go on. Shin may never have a chance to medal again and all 4 years of training went nowhere. They took that from her.
-ray leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I feel so sorry for the poor girl!
@jigg - would you have cared and still boycotted if she was not asian?
Made me tear up
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ktlincoln/an-olympic-fencer-refuses-to-leave-the-floor-after?sub=1697515_473669
@JessicaSpeak - Yes because I’m not particular biased towards Asians. I normally root for the US against all other countries, except in soccer where I always support England.
Her being Asian has nothing to do with how I feel about fairness. Further analysis shows that the ref made many mistakes throughout the match, which further points the finger of poor officiating. These are the Olympics, not just some regular competition.
-ray leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
@jigg - just checking – there tends to be a heavy bias on Xanga with regards to race/nationalist issues, and i’m glad you are somebody who chooses to not pander to that party. It’s a common social judgement, and it bothers me sometimes.
I do have to disagree with your last statement – every competition deserves proper and unbiased officiating, not just the Olympics; fair play should be demonstrated and executed at every level of competition.
@JessicaSpeak - I completely agree that all competition deserves fair play. What I was implying is that if the absolute perfection is required for an athlete to achieve an Olympic medal, the officiating should have the same standards.
-ray leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I read about this. What they did to her was terrible, especially after she spent all that time sitting there crying, and then had to immediately get up and fight for the bronze. How could she have won? And why did they charge hundreds of dollars just for the appeal? And why didn’t they just look at the instant reply, see the obvious fact that the clock messed up, and congratulate the rightful winner? It’s sad, and maddening, to see people who work so hard for so long treated so poorly and unfairly.