Fencer Shin refuses to accept 'special medal' after sit-in protest
By Sportsmail Reporter|
Fencing's governing body announced that heartbroken South Korean Shin A Lam will receive 'a special medal' after she felt she was robbed of a proper one in the women's epee on Monday night.
The medal will be for 'aspiration to win and respect for the rules,' said the International Fencing Federation in a statement.
But Shin said: 'It does not make me feel better because it's not an Olympic medal.
'I don't accept the result because I believe it was a mistake.'
Shin was speaking back at the ExCeL Arena, scene of the biggest controversy of the Games so far at the end of her semi-final with Germany's 2008 Olympic champion Britta Heidemann.
The 25-year-old was in floods of tears and stayed on the piste for over an hour while arguments raged about the result, but her defeat stood and she then lost the bronze medal match as well.
Shin thought she was through to the final when the clock went to zero, but Austrian referee Barbara Csar then ruled there was actually still a second left, during which time Heidemann scored.
Korean Olympic Committee president Park Yung-Sung revealed today the FIE had made the offer of a consolation prize and recognised that they had acknowledged that 'you can have human error.'
He added: 'They know they are very sorry about her and they have to recognise her sporting spirit.'
The FIE said they had, as yet, no confirmation of the date or place of the medal award ceremony.
The Korean team's protest was rejected this morning and Park also said: 'They cannot make a new decision after rejecting our appeal, but they are sorry and sympathise with Shin so they want to recognise her in the spirit of the Olympics.'
Shin, who said through an interpreter that she had slept for only about two hours last night, could still win a 'real' medal in the team event on Saturday - and could face Heidemann once more in the final.
Park blamed the timing system for the incident, claiming it was not accurate enough.
'They have never experienced this before with three attacks in the last second. Their timekeeping machine only has seconds, not fractions of a second. It cannot handle a situation like yesterday. That they admit.'
In their written appeal the Korean team had said: 'I can't agree with the decision of the referee. Who can believe this situation? The Korean team cannot accept this situation.'
But an official statement issued in response read: 'It is for the referee to decide how much time remains. The referee confirmed the last hit. Neither the DT (the technical director) nor the refereeing delegations can change a question of fact. The DT decides to reject the protest.'
Meanwhile, Park confirmed that the Korean team had accepted an apology from their Swiss counterparts after footballer Michel Morganella was expelled from the Games for directing an allegedly racist insult at South Koreans on Twitter.
The 23-year-old defender was sent home after posting the message in the wake of his team's 2-1 defeat to South Korea on Sunday. Morganella has also apologised and his Twitter account has been deleted
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2181812/London-2012-Olympics-Shin-A-Lam-refuses-special-medal.html#ixzz22MlmxSbH
The disgraceful moment eight Badminton players are KICKED OUT of the Olympics for deliberately trying to lose their games
Longest rally in one game between Korea and China was just four strokes- Locog said it would not refund tickets for the matches
- Lord Coe said: 'Depressing. Who wants to sit through something like that'
Eight women badminton players have been thrown out of the Olympics in disgrace for deliberately trying to lose their games.
Yesterday’s mass disqualification is unprecedented at an Olympic Games and followed uproar among 16,000 spectators, who booed their disgust at the players in the Wembley Arena on Tuesday night.
Four pairs – two from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia – went to extraordinary lengths to avoid winning.
The players had all qualified for the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles and were accused of trying to manipulate the draw by losing so they would be matched with easier opposition in the next round or avoid playing their teammates.
Amid shameful and embarrassing scenes, players were deliberately serving into the net or hitting the shuttlecock over the court’s lines. The longest rally in one set lasted just four shots.
As a furious backlash grew, Lord Coe, head of London 2012, described the players’ actions as ‘depressing and unacceptable’.
The spotlight will be on the Chinese, who dominate world badminton but have been accused of manipulation before.
Petya Nedelcheva, a Bulgarian player who was on an adjacent court at the time of the first match, said Chinese players routinely tried to avoid playing each other.
She said: ‘China control everything. I don’t know who controlled the match to lose but if it is China again, they did it so many times last year – they didn’t play against each other in 20 matches. They do what they want.’
The Wembley fiasco began when Chinese top seeds Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang started to show little interest in beating Koreans Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na to finish top of Group A.
Coming second would have meant avoiding compatriots and second seeds Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei until the final.
The Koreans responded to China’s antics by copying them.
Referee Torsten Berg warned all the players and produced a black card, meaning they would be disqualified. After protests, this was rescinded.
The match restarted and the Koreans went on to win 21-14, 21-11.
The matter did not end there as a second Korean pair, third seeds Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, attempted to engineer defeat in their match against Indonesia’s Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.
Their motive was apparent retaliation to avoid Xiaoli and Yang in the quarter-finals, an outcome they failed to achieve as they won 18-21, 21-14, 21-12.
The Indonesians were not bystanders in the affair as they responded to the Koreans by trying to lose themselves.
Gail Emms, the former British badminton star and Olympic silver medallist, said: ‘You cannot do this in an Olympic Games, this is something that is not acceptable . . . it was just disgraceful.’
Miss Emms said the potential for match-fixing was raised in a managers’ meeting on Monday but the referee had dismissed concerns.
She added: ‘All the managers got together with the referee and said, “look, this has happened; in Group D you will find some very dodgy matches going on in the evening because of it” and the referee laughed and said “don’t be silly”.
‘The managers said “we know the game, we know the players and we know the teams and we know this is going to happen”.’
Korea’s coach Sung Han-kook laid the blame squarely at the feet of China. He said: ‘The Chinese started this. They did it first. They didn’t want to meet each other in the semi-final.’
The Badminton World Federation yesterday disqualified the players. Their places will be taken by the teams who finished third and fourth in their qualifying groups concerned – Canada, Australia, Russia and South Africa.
Locog said fans would not be given any refunds, even though some paid up to £80 to see the world’s best players. Chief executive Paul Deighton said: ‘You get in to all sorts of strange precedents if people aren’t satisfied with what they see – it is very grey and dangerous territory.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181902/Olympics-2012-Badminton-descends-farce-China-South-Korea-attempt-LOSE.html#ixzz22MopiATV
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