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Monday, October 7, 2024

Cheating, Fixing & Scandals @ Olympics

1. Flag Blunder

Incidents from London that scarred the Olympics…

Flag Blunder

London’s Olympics got off to an embarrassing start when North Korea’s women footballers refused to play after Hampden Park’s giant screen showed images of North Korean players next to the South Korean flag before their opening match with Colombia.

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2. The Gatecrasher

The Gatecrasher

The mystery woman in red shirt and blue trouser, later identified as Madhura Nagendra, a post-graduate from Bangalore, had caused a flutter during the opening ceremony as she hogged the limelight by walking along with the flagbearer Sushil Kumar and waving to the crowd.The Indians were understandably agitated that a person who was not part of the delegation was allowed to accompany the team and hog the limelight in the process. Organizers later apologized.

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3. Ticket scandal

Ticket scandal

Olympic organisers scrambled to quell a scandal over depressing TV images of half-empty stands at the London Olympics as a government minister said an urgent inquiry had been launched to identify just who had failed to show up, and why.

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4. Stunning disqualification

Stunning disqualification

Gold medal favourite, who holds the Olympic and world crowns in the event, Park Tae-Hwan’s hopes of defending his Olympic men’s 400m freestyle title were resurrected as he was reinstated in the wake of his sensational false start disqualification in the heats. South Korea’s Park touched first in his heat but was stunned to look up and see the scoreboard showing he was disqualified.

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5. The lusty Mayor

AP

London Mayor, Boris Johnson, drooled over ‘semi-naked’ female beach volleyball players ‘glistening like otters’ in the rain, in a newspaper column. In the piece he wrote for the Daily Telegraph, the bizarre simile cropped up among Johnson’s ’20 reasons to feel cheerful’ about the Olympics.

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6. Daylight robbery

Daylight robbery

Indian boxer Sumit Sangwan went down 14-15 under controversial circumstances to Brazilian Yamaguchi Falcao Florentino in the round of 32 of 81kg category. The 19-year-old Indian fought valiantly and should have won more points but the judges thought otherwise. ESPN commentators were surprised by the verdict and called it “daylight robbery”.

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7. Jwala in the storm

Jwala in the storm

During the mixed doubles match between Jwala Gutta- V Diju and Thomas Laybourn-Kamilla Rytter Juhl, Jwala was involved in a spat with the chair umpire over a “double shot” hit by her. With the umpire remaining firm over his decision, the Indian was clearly unhappy.In women’s doubles, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa’s appeal against a group match of Japan and Taipei was rejected.

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8. Fixing in Badminton

Fixing in Badminton

Eight women badminton players were disqualified from the London Olympics after trying to lose on purpose in an attempt to earn better elimination round seeds. Two pairs from South Korea and one pair each from China and Indonesia were accused of “not using one’s best efforts to win.” Following disqualification, disgraced athlete Yu Yang announced retirement from badminton altogether.

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9. Doping in swimming

Doping in swimming

Chinese reacted angrily to doping accusations swirling around their newest swimming superstar Ye Shiwen, who had won two gold at the London Olympics. The accusations grew after the 16-year-old won victories in the women’s 200m and 400m individual medley. John Leonard, a US coach, was quoted in British media as saying Ye’s performances were ‘unbelievable’ and ‘disturbing’.

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10. Flawed Fencing Clock

Flawed Fencing Clock

The International Fencing Federation acknowledged that timekeeping could have been flawed in the Olympic epee semi-final involving a South Korean fencer Shin A-lam, but upheld the victory for her German opponent and defending champion Britta Heidemann.

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11. Cheating in Hockey

Cheating in Hockey

Hockey coach Nobbs claimed India was denied a rightful penalty stroke in last minutes of their opening tie against Holland. India lost the match 2-3 to kick off on a losing note.

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12. Athlete turns racist

Athlete turns racist

Triple jumper Voula Papachristou was expelled from Greece’s Olympic team for her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right party. The Hellenic Olympic Committee said that Papachristou is “placed outside the Olympic team for statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement”.

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13. Swiss calls Koreans retards

Swiss calls Koreans retards

Swiss footballer Michel Morganalla was sent home from the Olympics by his country’s officials following a racist tweet. A message posted on Morganella’s Twitter account, which has since been deleted, called Koreans “retards” and said that they should “burn”. Morganella’s Switzerland team lost to South Korea 1-2 earlier Sunday in a group stage game.

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14. Abuses hurled on Tom Daley

Abuses hurled on Tom Daley

British Olympics team leaders say they intervened with Twitter to delete offensive messages sent to diver Tom Daley. Highly offensive and altogether unacceptable tweets were sent to Daley, after he missed a medal in the 10-meter synchronized platform competition with teammate Pete Waterfield.

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15. Olympic passes on Twitter

Olympic passes on Twitter

High-profile athletes sparked security concerns by carelessly posting high resolution pictures of their official Olympic Village passes on twitter, just ahead of the opening ceremony.Their tweeting of high security passes raised fears that the barcodes, which do not feature infra-red or microchip technology, could be duplicated by fraudsters & terrorists.

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16. Judo result overturned

Judo result overturned

After a close encounter in the quarterfinal of the men’s -66kg category between Japan’s Ebinuma Masashi and South Korea’s Cho Jun-Ho, the referee and judges on the mat raised their blue flags to indicate Cho had won. The arena at London’s ExCel Centre erupted in derision with the disgusted Japanese coach looking utterly flabbergasted. The result was referred to a reviewing commission and they ruled that Masashi should be the winner.

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17. Spirit of sport vs hijab

Spirit of sport vs hijab

Saudi Arabia threatened to withdraw from the Olympics unless a female judo athlete was allowed to wear her headscarf in competition. Judo spokesman Nicolas Messner said the hijab could be dangerous because the sport involved strangleholds and chokeholds. However, judo federations in Asia allowed Muslim women to wear hijabs.

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18. Heartbreak for boxer

Heartbreak for boxer

In a stunning reversal of fortunes, Indian boxer Vikas Krishan (69kg) was ousted from the Olympics after the International Boxing Association overturned the result of his pre-quarterfinal bout that he had won, following a review. The 20-year-old had won 13-11 over Errol Spence in a thrilling contest but following an appeal by his rival’s team management, the AIBA awarded the bout 15-13 to the American.

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19. Cheating in the ring

Cheating in the ring

Boxer Manoj Kumar’s 20-16 loss to Great Britain’s Thomas Stalker may have shocked few, but the 26-year-old termed it “cheating”. Stalker was a clear winner in the first round with the score reading 7-4 and managed to extend his lead to 9-5 in the second. Kumar went all out in the third and the last round which he claimed 7-4, but some debatable judging ultimately saw him leave the arena in disappointment.

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20. Banned for visiting the wife!

Banned for visiting the wife!

Kim Collins, a five-time Olympian and former 100-metre world champion, the man chosen to carry the flag at the opening ceremony for St. Kitts and Nevi, was sent home from the London Olympics for seeing his wife. Collins left the Athletes Village to meet his wife in a hotel, and then failed to make contact again in time to be confirmed for the 100 heats.

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