Expelled for Trying to Lose In the Olympics

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On August 1, the Badminton World Federation (BWF)
expelled four women's doubles from the Olympic games.
They were "not using one's best efforts to win a match".

The Chinese top pair Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli
were among the disqualified players.
The incident sparked intense debate on Chinese websites.
China's gold medal winning costs large amounts
of taxpayer money, which is not a healthy sports system.

The women's badminton doubles match between China
and South Korea angered almost 5,000 spectators.
Both teams appeared to want to lose the match.
Another doubles match was accused in the same.
This scandal aroused the discontent of referees
and London Olympics'organizers.
The eight badminton players are blamed for trying to lose
to avoid meeting their compatriot pairs in the quarter finals.

After an investigation, BWF and the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) decided to disqualify them for failing to compete for victory.

IOC spokesman Mark Adams said that the BWF took
the first critical step, but it's not sufficient.
Mark Adams: "We want to see a positive result
for the sport in the Olympics.
And now we make sure they (the three national Olympic
committees) also consider the entourage, to make sure it is not just the athletes who are punished for this."

Later, Chinese player Yu Yang admitted she didn't play
to her full strength in the match, nor follow the Olympic spirit.
On her microblog, Yu claimed to have quit badminton.

However, her mother called on the authorities
to give an explanation on the issue.

Fan Huchang (Overseas Chinese student, US):
"Match-throwing is against the Olympic spirit.
I think they deserved the punishment.
But it should be attributed to the role behind-the-scenes.
The players follow the orders of their coach,
who follows his higher-level authorities.
So the problem is with the authorities."

The scandal has sparked heated discussion
among the Chinese netizens.
By 7:45pm on August 2, over 500,000 people voted in a poll.
Almost 50% voted to "support undefined Olympic spirit.?"

Canadian sports coach Ju Bin says the sport itself is
in service of humankind, not a government or political party.

Ju Bin: "As long as I was able to win the gold medal,
it would do anything.
Which in itself is contrary to sports ethics,
to the spirit of sport."

The Chinese badminton team is known for match-throwing.
It occurred in both Sydney'and Athens Olympics.
In 2011, of 99 matches played between Chinese teams,
20 games ended with a default or a quit halfway.

In 2008, during a television interview, Li Yongbo, the head
coach of China's badminton team, revealed the insides.
Li Yongbo: "Because we are mighty, we had several players
enter the top eight and top four.
That meant the opponents even didn't possess the strength
to throw a match."

The incident made the public rethink China's sports system.

New York-based pro-democracy activist Mu Wenbin
was a senior reporter for many major media in China.
Mu says that no officially-funded sports organs are set up
in the US government to train professional athletes.
However, the US is still one of the top sports countries.
That is the true healthy sports system, Mu remarks.
This contrasts CCP's lavishing of taxpayers' money to train
athletes used to win gold to glorify the CCP, said Mu.

Mu Wenbin: "China's existing sports system is similar
to the former Soviet Union', aiming to honor itself (the CCP).
It spends a lot of money on training athletes since childhood,
with goals of becoming gold medal winners.
But the nation's sports industry hasn't grown."

UK's Times pointed out that China expects to use
athletes' victory to justify the regime.
Exactly the way the former Soviet Union
and East Germany did.
However, the success of elite sports cannot be taken
as a proof of the virtues of political culture.
Instead, it often exposes a lack of confidence
and existing moral issues.



《神韵》2011世界巡演新亮点
http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/