Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Badminton scandal is the first scar on London 2012 and sends a warning to both athletes and IOC
At the Olympics,you play to win. And,cleaving to the quadrennially burnished dictum,you play fair. But in London,on a day when India saw two of its shuttlers showcasing the spectacular agility that is special to badminton and getting propelled to quarterfinals,a few doubles teams played to lose. The world doubles champions,Chinas Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang,threw their match against South Koreas Jung Kyun-eun and Kim Ha-na,to avoid playing their compatriots in the semifinal and to shore up Chinas chances of a medal. Later,another South Korean team played Indonesia: it was a dismal match that neither of them wanted to win and be pitted against Wang and Yu in the semi. The eight players have been thrown out of the competition.
In sports,willing oneself to lose is as unethical as using substances to enhance performance because both acts violate a sportspersons sacred contract with her spectator as well as the sports underlying principle of playing full and fair. The rush for golds and the rage for personal bests may have tainted the system. Even so,the sublime purity of athleticism is what the Olympics aspire to. The IOC may have to rethink the round-robin schedule,for there would be wilier sportspersons who could throw a match without making it starkly evident. And for athletes,the Yu Yang career graph is a warning: gold in Beijing,boot in London.
