<p>""…a draw 0-0 would allow both teams to advance to the playoff.""</p>
<p>They do that in soccer tournaments all the time. But at least they aren’t looking as bad as directly hitting the shuttlecock into the net.</p>
<p>"“I suspect she will be back.”"</p>
<p>It is hard to say. China has a deep talent pool in badminton. Have you noticed that the gold medalist in Women’s 53 kg weightlifting from Kazakhstan, is actually an exchange athlete from China (including nationality) under Project Raising Wolf? She will return to China soon.</p>
<p>StillGreen, I was talking about this one, from 2010:
[Ghana</a> Vs Uruguay world cup 2010 Hand ball - YouTube](<a href=“Ghana Vs Uruguay world cup 2010 Hand ball - YouTube”>Ghana Vs Uruguay world cup 2010 Hand ball - YouTube)
It was an obviously deliberate handball for Uruguay, but it enabled them to win the game because the player from Ghana missed the penalty kick. There were many interesting discussions about the ethics of that play.</p>
<p>Somehow, it seems worse to me than the “Hand of God,” but I’m not sure why.</p>
<p>That isn’t uncommon in soccer tournaments, not any better or worse than the “Hand of God”. Including such as a defender kicking a striker from behind, just to safe a goal. Have you watched how rough Netherlands was on Spain in the last WC Final match?</p>
<p>[Stephanie</a> Rice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Rice]Stephanie”>Stephanie Rice - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Ye’s 400 IM time in the 2010 Asian Games 4:33.79
her time in London '12 4:28.43
Improvement over 1.5 year: ~5 seconds</p>
<p>Rice’s 400 IM time in the 2007 World championships 4:41.19 (personal best at the time)
her gold medal time in '08 Beijing 4:29.45
Improvement over 1 year: ~14 seconds <a href=“LET%20ME%20FURTHER%20EMPHASIZE:%20FOURTEEN%20SECONDS!!!”>i</a>*</p>
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<p>Ye beat the world record by a smaller margin and her improvement was nothing compared to Rice’s. Rice also made history in that she was the first women to break the 4:30 mark. Maybe the fact that Kirsty Coventry was next to her helped mask the feat. </p>
<p>As for Ye faster than Lochte; at the US Olympic Trial, Cammile Adams closed faster than one of the male finalist in 400-IM. She’s not even the fastest in IM and she placed something like 40th in 400-M free.</p>
<p>Oh, I found Stephanie’s times through someone’s blog. Why none of these major media outlets mentioned it?</p>
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<p>No that’s absolutely racist to me as someone of Chinese ethnicity. There’s no reason she should be referred to by her race in the context of competing discussing nationalities. Would you call an American black athlete “African” when competing against other nations?</p>
<p>I talked to a top official at a US anti-doping organization who said that in his experience few world-class athletes are clean, and that in some sport you’re simply not going to be competitive enough without it. We had been speaking about Lance Armstrong, but this official just shrugged and said “we simply haven’t caught up to him yet.” Lance Armstrong apparently has more money and connections and has been able to evade authorities. </p>
<p>It almost makes you want to see doping legalized. The best athlete would still win.</p>
<p>Has anyone followed Sir Chris Hoy winning his fifth Olympic gold at the velodrome?</p>
<p>[Olympic</a> Cycling:Philip Hindes crash admission ‘lost in translation’ | The Guardian](<a href=“Olympic cycling: Philip Hindes crash admission 'lost in translation' | Olympics 2012: cycling | The Guardian”>Olympic cycling: Philip Hindes crash admission 'lost in translation' | Olympics 2012: cycling | The Guardian)
</p>
<p>The banned asian badminton players and their teams were at least honest about what they were trying to do: to gain an easier passage to the final or medal rounds by losing strategically.</p>
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<p>Hi, SG. I suspect a lot will depend on the “investigation”. If Li Yongbo stays on as head coach (yes, I expect somebody else will be the fall guy), he will probably convince her to return. He did so with Huang Sui before, and Yu Yang, like him, is from Liaoning.;)</p>
<p>Yu Yang is a great front court specialist that is crucial to success in doubles. I know they have Ma Jin and Zhao Yunlei, but it does not hurt to have more. Of course, they could have more in the pipeline that I do not know about.</p>
<p>Here is an interesting article on Chinshanlo:</p>
<p>[London</a> Olympics: Kazakhstan weightlifter Zulfiya Chinshanlo is actually Chinese, say reports - The Economic Times](<a href=“http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/london-olympics-kazakhstan-weightlifter-zulfiya-chinshanlo-is-actually-chinese-say-reports/articleshow/15333558.cms]London”>http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/london-olympics-kazakhstan-weightlifter-zulfiya-chinshanlo-is-actually-chinese-say-reports/articleshow/15333558.cms)</p>
<p>This brings up another question. Is using imported players cheating? A lot of countries are doing just that.</p>
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<p>It is good for the athletes, who otherwise wouldn’t have chance to compete, given the strict quota per country. It also make the sport more competitive, which is good for the sport.</p>
<p>Also, these Chinese-Kazak weight-lifters have been training in Kazakhstan for a few years, so China shouldn’t get all the credit for their success.</p>
<p>I hate to think what the score in the basketball game would have been last night if Nigeria hadn’t been able to use American-born players.</p>
<p>Perhaps having people from one country playing for another country will help to temper the nationalism a little bit. (I can dream.)</p>
<p>I feel for the badminton players - they’re not really doing anything WRONG, persay. People talk about what they did as if it was some great breach of ethics. And I’d agree if they were matchfixing for money, but they weren’t. You see this behavior in every round robin format. That goes for soccer tournaments, and the season play of pretty much every professional sport. NFL teams that locked in their seed rest their key starters (and if you’re fighting for the toilet bowl, you maybe even try to lose on purpose). NBA teams put the second team on for more time, and sub older stars out more quickly. Etc, etc. It makes no sense to tire yourself out physically and mentally for a meaningless game.</p>
<p>I don’t think this is the type of thing the Olympics should be policing, quite honestly. It’s an accepted downside of a RR stage in a tournament. That said, I do think the DQs should stand simply because they provided fair warning.</p>
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The IOC wouldn’t have done anything–it was the badminton authorities that acted. Is this a recognized no-no in badminton? It doesn’t really seem to be a problem in soccer, except that other teams will sneer at you.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t know, but I can’t imagine this is the first time it’s happened, or so many teams wouldn’t have done so independently.</p>
<p>Hunt, this problem has been plaguing badminton for a long time, and the WBF has not done anything about it until now. So, from the players perspective, it is unfair because they have always been doing so and got away with it. Looking at it from the spectators’ perspective, it is utterly disgraceful and a total waste of time and money. I suspect the WBF was embarrassed into action; they also fear the sport may be booted out of the Olympic Games. </p>
<p>The more I think about it, the more I agree with your daughter. It is the sporting bodys responsibility to ensure cheating cannot happen; you cannot expect athletes to not play strategically. </p>
<p>While still on the topic of badminton, I think Chen Jins lost to the Korean yesterday is also suspicious. If not for the disqualifications, I suspect he would be playing to win. Now, knowing what had happened earlier, it would be less suspicious for him to lose to a foreign competitor than be accused of losing to his team mate Lin Dan deliberately. Since his job was to escort Lin as far into the competition as he can. His job is pretty well done. Why not exit gracefully now?</p>
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<p>Perhaps it is an individual aversion. I am of a certain ethnic group and we often refer to ourselves in that term, without attaching -American to it every time, even though technically it applies. No offense would ever be taken if someone referred to us with that description, but as I’ve said before, the older I get, the less patience I have for taking offense at any and every opportunity. I just don’t have the mental energy, while others have it in abundance-I often forget that.</p>
<p>That aside, the poster in question made a big issue in accusing an announcer of being “so upset” that a woman of Chinese heritage won over a white girl, when that never even happened. Eventually his “point” changed.</p>
<p>To be honest, I’ve never seen a badminton match outside of middle school gym. Having watched some of the match in question, I have still not seen a badminton match which differs from that seen in middle school.</p>
<p>I don’t know why the players didn’t take the ref seriously when he told them emphatically to knock it off or risk being disqualified. And it was pretty unfortunate for the spectators who arrived believing that they had parted with hard earned money to see competition at the highest level.</p>
<p>From what I read about this debacle, this will be rectified for the next Olympics.</p>
<p>No you can still game the system in soccer - what simultaneous games prevent is a situation where one of the games is meaningless for both teams (if both spots were clinched as a result of the first game). However, it doesn’t prevent teams from having nothing to play for. Example: 4 teams in a group have 6 points, 3 points, 3 points, and 0 points. The 6 point team is playing the 0 point team in the final games. In this case, the 6 point team has fully clinched, has the opportunity to pull stars earlier for more rest, and try out funkier lineups.</p>
<p>Even in that situation, the 6-point team could end up finishing second to one of those 3-point teams if it loses in the last game, depending on what tie-break they use. And if they are smart, they would arrange other games at the same time so they have no idea which team they would face if they finish first or second. The calculation is definitely more complex and risky.</p>
<p>Remember, people do bet on soccers with lots of $$ after all. A smart system is an absolute necessity.</p>