Badminton

London Olympics badminton scandal raises ethical issues

Violation of the Olympic ideal … or a strategic business-as-usual gambit?

Ethical and philosophical debates aside, in what is believed to be an Olympics first - expulsion of multiple athletes for match-throwing -eight female badminton players from three Asian nations were disqualified Wednesday from the London Games.


Why would any Olympian intentionally try to lose or tie, as was the case with the Japanese women's soccer team?

The badminton players - caught in a net of deceit - did not use their best effort to win qualifying matches a night earlier at Wembley Arena because they wanted a more favorable draw in doubles competition, ruled the Badminton World Federation.

The federation banned the players from China, South Korea and Indonesia. An appeal by South Korea was denied.

Federation officials concluded that the players conducted themselves in a manner that was "clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport."

The International Olympic Committee still could remove the players' accreditation and force them to vacate the athletes' village. It also can order further investigation.

"The international federation took the right action in disqualifying the athletes, and definitely that was the way to go,'' IOC President Jacques Rogge told The Associated Press.

The same disciplinary option was not sought against the coach of the Japanese women's soccer team. Norio Sasaki persuaded his team to play for a 0-0 tie with South Africa on Tuesday to avoid a quarterfinals trip to Scotland.

What in the name of Pierre de Coubertin is going on here?

"Bewilderment," was the initial reaction by Robert Parham, executive editor of EthicsDaily.com and executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics.

"There are a variety of questions people (should) ask: Have the players violated the game's code of conduct? Another would be, is this a practiced strategy in badminton or an exception?"

Similar ethical quandaries shadow other sports, and sometimes there seems to be no clear-cut answers.

If a Major League Baseball player acts as if he is hit by a pitch but is not, to force home the winning run, is that cheating … or gamesmanship?

If an NFL punter fakes being run into by a defender - fooling an official and drawing a penalty flag to change a game's outcome … - is that a reprehensible tactic?

To wit: If a team's goal is to win gold, shouldn't it do everything in its power to mint that dream?

No doubt de Coubertin would have disagreed with that premise.

The founder of the International Olympic Committee, a French idealist and father of the modern-day Games, once said: "The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

The offending teams meekly laid down their arms, leaving some of their dismayed countrymen with utter disdain.

Before the disqualifications, China's Lin Dan, the No. 2-ranked men's singles player, said through an interpreter that badminton would be damaged.

"This is definitely not within the Olympic spirit," he told the AP.

Nor in keeping with its history.

"There are stories of Iranians throwing matches in international meets in taekwondo and wrestling to avoid meeting Israelis; at the Olympics, they have simply discovered unusual transient illnesses to avoid those matches," Olympic historian Bill Mallon said. "But this is the first of its type that I know of."

But such sham-filled conduct is not new or apparently even looked at with raised eyebrows in badminton, which has its roots in ancient Chinese culture through a game called Ti Zian Ji. At that time, participants kicked the shuttlecock.

This time, China's revered world doubles championship team of Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang got the unceremonious boot.

Throwing badminton matches is a problem in international competition during qualifying rounds, said Niels Nygaard, president of Denmark's National Olympic Committee.

The deceit infiltrated its way into these Games because this is the first time the Olympics held qualifying rounds rather than all-elimination play, Nygaard said.

But Thomas Lund, secretary general of the Badminton World Federation, claimed the tactic is "not common" in international play. Yet he said the Olympic tournament brackets were arranged so there would be "no motivation" to throw matches.

Lund called the incident an "isolated case" that would not affect badminton's Olympic status. The sport has a long, distinguished history, if not in the Olympics.

Christinna Pedersen, a mixed doubles player from Denmark, called the disqualifications "a shame for our sport" — but necessary.

"I think it's really important they do something about it, because we've been seeing it a lot,'' she said. "I can't believe (the players) could do it at the Olympics. It's such a shame.''

The sport debuted in the Olympics as a demonstration event at Munich in 1972.

Nygaard applauded the expulsions, as did those in the sport's international community who quickly offered scathing rebukes.

"You cannot accept that players manipulate the game," said team leader Martin Kranitz of Germany, who witnessed Tuesday's fraudulent matches. "It was unbelievable. Everybody could see this. This produces a negative image for badminton and a bad image of China."

No sanction is forthcoming for the Japanese women's soccer team, even though it, too, violated the spirit of the rules.

The team's scoreless tie left Japan second in Group F, meaning it will play Britain or Brazil in Cardiff on Friday. If Japan had won the match, it would have faced the USA's top-ranked team or France, another strong contingent, in Glasgow.

Coach Sasaki said he used substitutes in the second half and told them to keep possession and not score, based on how the other match in Group F was going. In that match, Canada drew 2-2 with Sweden, meaning Sweden topped the group.

"It was a different way of playing compared to the usual game, but the players were on the same page as me," Sasaki told the AP.

If not, perhaps, reading from the same Olympic book as the rest of the sporting public.

Still, the scandal did not seem to decrease badminton fans' appetite for more (genuine) competition. Evening doubles sessions were nearly packed with cheering fans, including a raucous section of Japanese spectators. Empty seats were few and far between.

In the sports-betting parlors, the small wagering that badminton generates doesn't register much of a gambling revenue-generating blip so there were no real implications, said William Hill media relations director Graham Sharpe.

Nevertheless, this was a humiliating moment on the world stage for the sport and the punished countries that are considered to constitute its elite. Since 1992, Asian nations have dominated, capturing 69 of 76 medals. China has won 30.

Badminton fan Kevin Holland was disgusted with the fake outcome but delighted with the disciplinary action.

"It was a disgrace what happened — this is the Olympics. Everybody should be playing their best," he said.

The deceptive badminton performances prompted broad condemnation from the IOC and London Olympics chief Sebastian Coe, who said such manipulation was unacceptable.

"It's depressing," Coe said. "Who wants to sit through something like that?"

Certainly not fans of genuine competition, but London organizers refuse to make good on refunds. They said no one has asked for a refund.

London Olympics operations director Paul Deighton said tickets to the contrived matches also provided spectators with access to other matches that were not questioned.

"It wasn't a one-off game,' " Deighton said.

But they were off-putting games, leading to ousters for the South Korean teams of Kyung Eun Jung and Ha Na Kim and Jung Eun Ha and Min Jung Kim, along with Indonesia's Meiliana Jauhari and Greysia Polii.

The players, all of whom were scheduled to play in Wednesday's quarterfinals, were roundly booed after it became obvious that they were not exerting themselves in preliminary rounds of the round-robin tournament.

Charoen Wattanasin, vice president of Thailand's National Olympic Committee, said the players' actions were morally wrong.

"Once you are on the court, whether you like it or not, you should be out there to win,'' said Wattanasin, also president of the Badminton Federation of Thailand. "Something had to be done. I feel sorry for what happened but believe the committee made the right decision."

A similar controversy erupted later involving another South Korean pair and their Indonesian opponents.

Adrianti Firdasari, a singles player from Indonesia, said she was disappointed.

"It's not good for the sport and people buying the tickets came to see the match, but they didn't get that. It's fair for them to be disqualified."

After all, it is the Olympics, and shouldn't that set the standard?http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Dan Lebowitz, executive director of Sport in Society, a Northeastern University research center, said in an e-mail that the landscape of sport should still always be defined by sportsmanship.

"Sport at its best is a great intersection between the cooperative spirit of teamwork and the competitive spirit of trying to excel," he said. "The Olympic Games are in many respects ultimate testimony to sport as it should be played."

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