Badminton Players Charged With "Not Giving Their Best Efforts"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19074013

This makes a mockery of the athletes oath, given during the opening ceremony, to at all times give of their best.

In my opinion, these players should be charged by the IOC with bringing the Olympic Movement into disrepute and if found guilty, disqualified.


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Surprised the American coach didnt come out and accuse them of taking performance reducing drugs

Theres a fine line of these sorts of things. Its commonplace for athletes to cruise through the opening rounds of sports when they are comfortable to qualify, noone bats an eyelid.
In this case however it was so extreme as to be ridiculous. It may be smart for them to save their energy and try and avoid people in the draw but it is against the spirit, bad for the paying crowd, will annoy the games sponsors and really sad for their opposition who have travelled across the world to not get a proper game.
It also shows some of these competitions need to look at how they are set up. Pool games always give rise to the temptation to do this sort of thing.

Well, this could easily have been resolved with a random (but seeded) draw for the knockout round.

Just to point out what did happen: China had two world class pairs, one of which surprisingly only finished second in the group, and had the other Chinese pair won, a collision between the two pairs would have happened. Obviously this would have removed the chances of both medalling and so one of the pairs thought it best to lose. The opponents then tried to flaw this plan by trying to lose themselves...

All of them should be thrown out. Goes against the very spirit of the games.

Must've been great for the crowd, imagine those were the only tickets you were able to get hold of.

I agree, they should be thrown out of the games. Complete disrespect to the sport and the Olympic games as a whole. They should have to give an official apology to all those who paid good money for tickets to see their shambolic performance.

Galted wrote:Must've been great for the crowd, imagine those were the only tickets you were able to get hold of.

Obviously, I'm not condoning the behaviour of those Badminton players, but I think there are usually a few gams on at a time so you can pick and choose? Surely you don't get just one match either I presume it's valid for a few hours at least?

You get a few games based on where your seat is I'd imagine.

I'm sure it would be for a session & not a single match but, even so, with tickets so hard to come by imagine having to watch that drivel.

Aren't they re-releasing a load of tickets as therer are empty seats? That's what's annoying me about, empty seats but tickets have been bought nobody gets to see it then!

China.....

They've been disqualified.

Good decision I think, shows that they will not take anything of that nature.

Disqualified

All 8 chucked out. Fully merited for frankly appalling sportsmanship.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

byebye China........(and S Korea and Indonesia)

Good call.

Bye bye

Excellent decision. Glad to see that some authorities in the world of sport have the balls and courage to do what is right!

Bye bye cheats. You've let your countries, sports and whole olympic community down.

All of the individual and team medals from those 3 countries (China, South Korea and Indonesia) should be stripped too.

I'm actually quite surprised there isn't something in 'the Agreement' to that effect. The hide of those 'athletes' to try even such stunts in front of paying spectators!

That would teach them to have more respect for our wonderful Olympic ideals! (and free up a bit of space up the top of the table too for more deserving nations like GB and Oz)

Excellent decision, no mercy to cheats. The countries involved should also be banned from badminton in future Olympics for a short spell.

I think it's inappropriate to punish an entire team for the actions of a few individuals. Those players who did their best, and played hard have done nothing wrong. It would be unfair to punish them for something they had no control over.

Imagine removing Bradley Wiggins from the road cycling if somebody like Chris Froome committed some sort of offence. It simply wouldn't be fair.

Also, to ban those players who had nothing to do with this disgrace is likely to bring about appeals which would take up important time and possibly delay the progress of the competition which in turn would also cause inconvenience to paying spectators who might have to alter their arrangements.

The proper decision, in my opinion, is to punish the miscreants and then allow the revised match roster to progress without pause to the competition

Put this wretched matter behind us and get on with the Games.

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Jennifer1984 wrote:I think it's inappropriate to punish an entire team for the actions of a few individuals. Those players who did their best, and played hard have done nothing wrong. It would be unfair to punish them for something they had no control over.

Imagine removing Bradley Wiggins from the road cycling if somebody like Chris Froome committed some sort of offence. It simply wouldn't be fair.

Also, to ban those players who had nothing to do with this disgrace is likely to bring about appeals which would take up important time and possibly delay the progress of the competition which in turn would also cause inconvenience to paying spectators who might have to alter their arrangements.

The proper decision, in my opinion, is to punish the miscreants and then allow the revised match roster to progress without pause to the competition

Put this wretched matter behind us and get on with the Games.

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That depends on who instigated the cheating. The players may have been told to do it by the coaches, in which case booting out the whole team is an appropriate punishment and sends a very strong message to the athletics bodies of those countries that cheating will not be tolerated.

Harsh, but fair decision IMO.

As a minimum I think the federations should refund the spectators the cost of their tickets. That would be a substantial fine and wouldn't punish other, innocent, members of those teams.

Right I think we're all aware of the scandal if the group stages of the women's doubles's badminton group stages. I saw a short clip of the match on the BBC today, but what I'm really after is some links to the entire games where the players kept trying to lose. Tried browsing around the BBC website but can't seem to find those two games. So if anyone could point me in there direction it'd be greatly appreciated!

I'm not sure the full match is available any more.

I haven't seen the match but I assume it must have been really obvious that they were trying to lose. They should have found a way to do it while putting on a better show.

how very gutting if that's the case, the commentator sounds so irate I'd love to see it so much!

break_in_the_fifth wrote:I haven't seen the match but I assume it must have been really obvious that they were trying to lose. They should have found a way to do it while putting on a better show.

From the clips I saw, players of both teams were tapping their serve tamely into the net. If nobody had ever seen a game of badminton in their life, it would have been glaringly obvious they weren't trying.

GLove39 wrote:Right I think we're all aware of the scandal if the group stages of the women's doubles's badminton group stages. I saw a short clip of the match on the BBC today, but what I'm really after is some links to the entire games where the players kept trying to lose. Tried browsing around the BBC website but can't seem to find those two games. So if anyone could point me in there direction it'd be greatly appreciated!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/live-video/p00w2y9b?tc=2012-07-31T18%3A26%3A24-00%3A00

The federation didnt back their actions, they were amongst the first to critisize them.

Jennifer1984 wrote:

break_in_the_fifth wrote:I haven't seen the match but I assume it must have been really obvious that they were trying to lose. They should have found a way to do it while putting on a better show.

From the clips I saw, players of both teams were tapping their serve tamely into the net. If nobody had ever seen a game of badminton in their life, it would have been glaringly obvious they weren't trying.

Fair enough, I guess it's a competition first and a show second.

Is it the fault of the competitors that the event is so badly organised.
They saw an opening and went for it.
What is the difference between this and the rowers laying up in the heats to gain advantage in the draw.

Doon your right. teams do this all the time. I have allways wondered what would happen in a game where both teams wanted to lose!

It happened in a Football match a few years ago.
Both teams needed a point to progress in the event.
The ball never left the centre of the pitch
Result 0-0
Now that was really funny

oh dear...

I am not saying its ok what the badminton teams did- however I think its something the organizers need to look into.

Imagine after group stages teams were picked at random for the knock outs. That would take away seedings and would cause a couple of minor issues- however It would never allow this situation to happen

I heard one of the Chinese players was having a pop at the 1948 GB rowing 'tactic'.... (don't know the details of that one) and doesn't think an apology is necessary. So not only is she a a dodgy cheat... she is also stubborn and unrepentant!

Doon the Water wrote:Is it the fault of the competitors that the event is so badly organised.
They saw an opening and went for it.
What is the difference between this and the rowers laying up in the heats to gain advantage in the draw.

In what way is the event badly organised..?

The organisation of the event is what it is, and the participants knew the rules of qualification for the later stages before they started out.

Now, I am no expert in Badminton, but I believe that the initial stage of the competition is a group phase whereby the top players go through to a knockout phase.

As I understand the situation (please put me right if I'm wrong, here), the Chinese pair realised that if they won their match, they would qualify for the Quarter Final, but their position in the table would mean they would have had to play against another Chinese pair. This would have meant that it would be China vs China with only one team to progress to the Semi Final.

By losing their match, they would avoid playing against their compatriots and such was their confidence in their team, they believed that both Chinese pairs would progress to the Semi Final. The obvious intent was to increase China's chances of more than one medallist in the event.


Please explain to me.... how is that a fault of the organisation of the competition..?


As for the rowing...... There is no advantage to be had from losing a race. There is no group phase in rowing, so if you lose, you stand to be eliminated from the tournament.

Those rowers who slow down towards the end of a race usually do so having already assured themselves of a place in the next round by virtue of their finishing place. If the rules state that three teams progress from a heat, there would be no advantage to be gained for the third placed team by them slowing down to allow the fourth placed to go past them..!!

There is also no advantage to be gained from dropping from first down to second or second to third because lane allocation for the next round is based on position / time. Competitors obviously want to obtain the best lane position for the next round.


Your comparison between the two events is fallacious.

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Please explain to me.... how is that a fault of the organisation of the competition..?

It's because Badminton is never normally group stages, and they decided to change it this year which created the problem.

I'm not sure whether that will be London's fault, or just the overall IOC.

Still doesn't change the fact that the players failed the Olmpics not the other way around.

You can't blame the system for the athletes TRYING TO LOSE. It's totally different to simply 'easying up' once a position/place is secure.

I agree with Jennifer.

I know I'm not excusing them, I'm just pointing out that the criticism for the organisers comes from the fact that in the previous system this cheating would not be possible.

Participants take the Olympic pledge to 'Play the sports in the spirit of the game'

They very much broke this pledge and rightfully got turfed out of the games.

legendkillarV2 wrote:Participants take the Olympic pledge to 'Play the sports in the spirit of the game'

They very much broke this pledge and rightfully got turfed out of the games.

Crimey wrote:I know I'm not excusing them, I'm just pointing out that the criticism for the organisers comes from the fact that in the previous system this cheating would not be possible.

I realise this extrapolates the argument waaay to the extreme, but to me the argument of 'well the organisers put a system in place that was open to exploitation/temptation to do so' is basically the same as people saying girls dressed like sluts are 'asking' to be assaulted. The attacker fully comprehends what they're doing is wrong but does it anyway, blaming the fact that the girl was dressed so provocatively rather than looking at themselves.

In simple terms, as human beings with choice and free will, if someone opens a door it is our decision whether to step through.

I fully agree, it's no excuse.

I'm just trying to explain why people are blaming the organisers. It's because of the change, rather than the actual system, people think the change was unnecessary, and it proved to cause problems.

Also Jennifer, I don't think it was about making sure China didn't play China, it's because the other Chinese side were the world number 2 who had surprisingly finished second, hence why South Korea and Indonesia were also trying to avoid them.

Crimey wrote:

Please explain to me.... how is that a fault of the organisation of the competition..?

It's because Badminton is never normally group stages, and they decided to change it this year which created the problem.

I'm not sure whether that will be London's fault, or just the overall IOC.

Badminton changed from a straight elimination tournament to a group phase / knockout tournament at the 2010 Youth Olympics held in Singapore in 2010. This change was trialled at those Games and was found to be such a great success that the IOC and the World Badminton Federation agreed to introduce this format into London 2012.

It could reasonably be argued that the Group / Knockout format was a success in Singapore because nobody attempted to cheat.

The organisation of a sport is not responsible for the attempts of participants to manipulate it to their advantage. Sport is organised on the principle that participants will take part in a spirit of sportsmanship and fair play.... that, after all, is what the Olympic Oath was taken for on behalf of the athletes at the opening ceremony.

The Olympic Charter expressly requires athletes to give of their best and these players conspicuously failed to do that. They knew the rules before the start of the competition and they attempted to abuse them.

I don't see anything sporting in that.

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I think the point Crimey is making that changing the format of the event, like in the case of badminton, it will lead to exploitation. Like people who can claim benefits through 'exploitation' of loopholes. If an incentive is created for exploiting the situation then maybe the organisers or IOC may need to change the format. It doesn't excuse what they did, but the temptation was there and they have rightfully been punished for it.

Crimey wrote:I fully agree, it's no excuse.

Also Jennifer, I don't think it was about making sure China didn't play China, it's because the other Chinese side were the world number 2 who had surprisingly finished second, hence why South Korea and Indonesia were also trying to avoid them.

I guess it depends on what newspaper you read. LOL. Perhaps it was a combination of both.


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legendkillarV2 wrote:I think the point Crimey is making that changing the format of the event, like in the case of badminton, it will lead to exploitation. Like people who can claim benefits through 'exploitation' of loopholes. If an incentive is created for exploiting the situation then maybe the organisers or IOC may need to change the format. It doesn't excuse what they did, but the temptation was there and they have rightfully been punished for it.

It seems an irrational argument to me, but ok, it's a subjective view.

If their intention was to 'test the water' to see if they could get away with it, then they found to their cost that... erm.... they couldn't.

A very loud and clear message has been sent out to ALL participants at the Games. Better to just stick to the rules and play fair.


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While i agree that the Badminton teams deserved to be thrown out, other sports (eg Cycling, Motor Racing, pacemakers in Athletics/Horse Racing) have participants who are trying "not to win"......................

John Cregan wrote:While i agree that the Badminton teams deserved to be thrown out, other sports (eg Cycling, Motor Racing, pacemakers in Athletics/Horse Racing) have participants who are trying "not to win"......................

There are no pacemakers at the Olympics.... unless you count the little motor scooter in the Kerin competition in the cycling velodrome. Having said that, the motor scooter isn't a participant so it's arguable.


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Again, there's a big difference between not trying to win and trying to lose.