TaekwonD'OH!
China has been accused of many things in the last couple of weeks. We've had the lip-synching girl at the opening ceremony (as blogged earlier). There was controversy over the gymnast who allegedly did not meet the 16 years and over rule and actually fell into, shall we say, the Gary Glitter target bracket. And there have been plenty of instances of somewhat "eccentric" marks being awarded vis-a-vis Chinese athletes, none more so than in this mornings Taekwondo quarter final which team GB's plucky Sarah Stevenson managed to lose by a point, despite kicking her Chinese opponent squarely in the face for a two-point score just before the end of the contest.
A complaint was duly lodged, but nobody seriously expected anything to be done. Homefield advantage has always been a factor in the Olympics, no matter how farcical the result. Ask Roy Jones Jr, who somehow only won boxing silver in the 1988 Seoul Olympics despite pummeling his South Korean opponent in the final and landing 86 punches whilst only getting 32 back. And yet, miraculously, Stevenson earned a reprieve - the Taekwondo officials perhaps realised that there are limits to what host nations can get away with and reversed the decision. She was in the semi finals, against the odds!
Clearly what should have happened next was "our Sarah" bravely battling her way to the final and an eventual triumphant victory. Unfortunately, faced with an absurdly hostile crowd and a Mexican opponent who was doubtless far better prepared, she lost her semi with something of whimper. Pah. What an anticlimax that was.
The real winner in all of this is the sport of Taekwondo itself, although they obviously have a lot to learn about proper storytelling and happy endings in particular. Oh well, we didn't need another gold medal anyway.
EDIT: Sarah Stevenson did recover to win a bronze medal in her final match, thereby making the title of this post rather less apposite. But I still like my bit of wordplay, so ner.
EDIT EDIT: Looks like the above incident won't be what everyone remembers about the Taekwondo in Beijing after all. Kicks to the head are impressive, but even more so when done to a judge: http://sportnews08.blogspot.com/
He got a lifetime's suspension, but it must have been almost worth it.
A complaint was duly lodged, but nobody seriously expected anything to be done. Homefield advantage has always been a factor in the Olympics, no matter how farcical the result. Ask Roy Jones Jr, who somehow only won boxing silver in the 1988 Seoul Olympics despite pummeling his South Korean opponent in the final and landing 86 punches whilst only getting 32 back. And yet, miraculously, Stevenson earned a reprieve - the Taekwondo officials perhaps realised that there are limits to what host nations can get away with and reversed the decision. She was in the semi finals, against the odds!
Clearly what should have happened next was "our Sarah" bravely battling her way to the final and an eventual triumphant victory. Unfortunately, faced with an absurdly hostile crowd and a Mexican opponent who was doubtless far better prepared, she lost her semi with something of whimper. Pah. What an anticlimax that was.
The real winner in all of this is the sport of Taekwondo itself, although they obviously have a lot to learn about proper storytelling and happy endings in particular. Oh well, we didn't need another gold medal anyway.
EDIT: Sarah Stevenson did recover to win a bronze medal in her final match, thereby making the title of this post rather less apposite. But I still like my bit of wordplay, so ner.
EDIT EDIT: Looks like the above incident won't be what everyone remembers about the Taekwondo in Beijing after all. Kicks to the head are impressive, but even more so when done to a judge: http://sportnews08.blogspot.com/
He got a lifetime's suspension, but it must have been almost worth it.
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