Win or lose, China's Olympic athletes draw criticism in London

[IndoCarib]

LONDON -- It's tough being a Chinese Olympian. When you win, people get upset. And if you try to lose, look out.

First an unheralded 16-year-old swimmer saw her two gold medal wins shadowed by cheating allegations.

Then came the disqualification Wednesday of China's top badminton players, among eight kicked out overall, after they tried to set up an easier draw for the medal stages of competition by throwing an early-round match.

Olympics officials said the criticism of the swimmer was unfair - she passed her drug test - and fellow athletes said the badminton format, not the athletes, was to blame because it was ripe for manipulation. Yet the controversy continued, taking some of the shine off of China's blistering medal pace over the first five days of the Games - 30 overall so far, 17 of them gold. The U.S. has won 29, 12 of them gold.

"Other swimmers have won multiple golds, how come they criticize me?" the 16-year-old swimmer, Ye Shiwen, said Tuesday night after claiming her second gold medal, in the 200-meter individual medley. Asked to explain her success at a young age, she said, "It's because of our training. We work really hard."

Still, it's become common for Chinese athletes to be subjected to extra scrutiny, warranted or not. China's past penchant for doping in Olympic swimming, its rigorous government-run training program for athletes and its recent rise to medal supremacy all have fueled suspicions, particularly among rival nations.

It was a top American swimming official, John Leonard, who first described Ye's world-record time in the 400-meter individual medley on Saturday as "disturbing," setting off a flurry of tongue-wagging from current and former swimmers and coaches. After Ye passed a drug test Tuesday, Olympic officials rushed to her defense.

"My instinct is always to give the benefit of the doubt to the competitor until proven otherwise," Sebastian Coe, the chair of the London Games and a two-time gold medalist in the 1,500 meter run, said Wednesday. "So my instinct for that is to celebrate what was an extraordinary performance."

Even the badminton scandal - which has brought worldwide disrepute to a sport that Americans usually play in between hot dogs at summer cookouts - isn't one of cheating per se, but rather of trying to win by losing.

The Badminton World Federation, the sport's governing body, changed its format for the Olympics this year, adding a round-robin portion before the typical single-elimination round. The purpose was to allow more matches for lower-ranked players, but it created a unique dilemma: If competitors already had qualified for the elimination round, they could manipulate the results of this last round-robin to set up a more favorable matchup in the knockout round.

The disqualified Chinese players - world doubles champions Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang - were trying to avoid being placed in the same bracket as another Chinese team in the knockout round. So when they took the court Tuesday for their final group matches, Wang and Yu didn't exactly play up to their champion status. They repeatedly served into the net and missed routine smashes. The only possible conclusion: They were working hard to lose.

Their South Korean opponents, who'd also qualified for the elimination round, saw what was going on and adopted the same tactics, prompting boos from a crowd expecting a spirited match and warnings from the umpire. The Chinese pair eventually succeeded in losing.

An hour later, another South Korean team and a team from Indonesia took the court. Neither team wanted to end up in the same side of the elimination draw as gold-medal favorites Wang and Yu, so they, too, proceeded to throw their match.

"Depressing," Coe said. "Who wants to sit through something like that?"

Wang and Yu, the Indonesian duo and the two South Korean teams were all expelled for "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive to or detrimental to the sport," the badminton federation said.

But other players were more understanding of what the teams were trying to do.

"I don't believe the athletes are at fault because they want to win, so you have to consider the organizers," Lin Dan, a Chinese singles player, said after his match Wednesday.

"They should have thought ahead and seen that this kind of situation might happen and thought what they could have done to avoid this situation and stop it happening again in the future," he said.

Xu Chen, a mixed doubles player, said, "If you set this kind of rule, as long as it's a legal requirement, it is really up to us how we play the game."

"I much preferred the situation in Beijing 2008 when we had the straight knockout."

Other reports of match-throwing dogged badminton. An Indian coach accused a Japanese women's pair of throwing a match Tuesday against a team from Taiwan to avoid facing the No. 2 Chinese team in the knockout stage. The Taiwanese team's advance, however, eliminated an Indian duo that had beaten the Taiwanese in the group stage.

Badminton officials haven't indicated if they'll take any action against the Japanese team.

"The system is first at fault," said the Indian coach, Pullella Gobi Chand. "The players will do whatever they can to win a medal and if losing means a better draw, they will do it."

Jan Jorgensen, a badminton player from Denmark, expressed the same sentiment with a hip-hop catch phrase that's probably never been applied to badminton before. "Don't hate the player," he said, "hate the game."


Read more here: LONDON: Win or lose, China's Olympic athletes draw criticism in London - Other Sports - MiamiHerald.com



London Olympics has already been written off as a flop. Add to this is the controversies regarding the chinese athletes

 

[beijingwalker]

When you win, people get upset. And if you try to lose, look out.

that's very true,but nothing can stop us from emerging onto the top.we trained very hard and we deserve the best.

 

[Cloakedvessel]

Who is winning medals in London, and why?

By Kamal A Munir

The writer teaches Strategy & Policy at the University of Cambridge

Published: August 1, 2012

As I write this, China is leading the medals’ table in London (they topped the table in Beijing too). Can we explain why? I do not claim to have the answer and a cursory look at research shows that no one else seems to either. But here are some thoughts where I build on some research published by Anirudh Krishna and Eric Haglund of Duke University and the Congressional Hunger Centre, respectively.

One might think that China’s success is because of its enormous population (which raises the probability of producing successful Olympians). However, the country with the next largest population, India, is nowhere in sight on the medals’ table. In fact, at the Beijing Olympics, India won one gold medal compared with China’s 51, and three medals overall compared with China’s 100. Between China and India, there were 48 countries, including Cuba (24 medals with a population of 11 million (1/100th of that of India). So population is not a good explanation for medal counts.

Perhaps, GDP is. Indeed, rich countries generally tend to do better on the medals’ table. It makes sense: more money can buy better sporting facilities, coaches, etc. When we combine population and GDP we get closer to the truth, but still are unable to explain the actual medal tally. Based on a combination of population and GDP, according to research done by Krishna and Haglund, China should have won 20 medals in the 2004 Olympics and India should have won 19. However, China (GDP of $8,000 as opposed to the US GDP of $50,000) actually won 63 and India got just one solitary medal. The Russian contingent should have won 15, whereas it actually won 92. In other words, even with GDP thrown in, some countries punch way above their weight, while others much below. Absolute investment in sporting facilities is also not the complete answer either, since Cuba wins just as many medals per one million people as Australia does.

The reason for this, according to Krishna and Haglund, lies in “effectively participating” populations. These are populations that actually participate in sports programmes that lead to the Olympics, or even simply, international level sport. In highly polarised countries (where GDP per capita basically means nothing, since the distribution of wealth generated is highly skewed) such as Pakistan and India, effective populations are very small. Sporting facilities and resources are hogged mostly by the elite. There are hardly any national level programmes that run on a regular basis and the plight of government schools is such that they are barely able to provide any facilities. Even in MC High School, Gojra, which has produced 75 international hockey players, it is the donations and the passion of one person that sustains the school’s excellence. The presence of Olympians (from similar backgrounds) in their midst allows this school’s poor students to dream. For its part, the government has done nothing.

It appears that countries such as China or Cuba, with a per capita GDP that is far lower than rich countries are able to do well because of the relative equal distribution of opportunities to excel across its school system (of course, they have also given much importance to sport because of the national pride associated with it). Perhaps, their success is also, at least partially, due to public health systems that ensure that their children do not suffer from malnutrition (like they do in India). A relatively equal society also ensures common dreams. Children in poor areas tend to have shockingly lower aspirations (this is something elite universities run into all the time — the poor smart kids are reluctant to even apply). Krishna and Haglund surveyed 40 villages in Karnataka and Rajasthan. They asked village youth what they aspired to be when they grew up. Their aspiration was mostly to become police constables, soldiers or schoolteachers, positions that they had seen their ‘successful’ elders achieve. Indeed, in 20 villages of Karnataka, one doctor, three engineers and four lawyers in district courts represented the highest achievements in all of the past 10 years — from among 60,000 people!

As Krishna and Haglund stress, the concept of “effective population” applies not just to the Olympics, but also to the Nobel Prize, mathematical and scientific excellence, etc. The key is uniform distribution of opportunity and resources instead of market segmentation according to purchasing power. Most Olympians are ‘discovered’ in their schools. A freely operating private school system, which differentiates solely on grades (obtained by cramming the students full of textbook knowledge) rather than following a more holistic pedagogical philosophy that feeds into national level objectives, might find it difficult to ever deliver on this front. Rich schools are loath to host teams from poor schools, share their facilities, or even to send their children to government-run programmes where a mix across classes might be present. Wider participation in national programmes or sharing of resources does not happen in segregated societies (and in Pakistan, a defacto policy of economic apartheid operates). Similarly, if the majority of a country’s population is denied access to proper nutrition and health care (and indeed, even the capacity to dream), it is effectively out of contention before it even started.

Winning medals at the Olympics, then, is not just about the individual athletes. It is about social and economic policies that they are a product of. Those sitting in Islamabad might want to take note of that.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2012.

Who is winning medals in London, and why? – The Express Tribune

 

[ahfatzia]

London Olympics has already been written off as a flop. Add to this is the controversies regarding the chinese athletes


Why you single out the Chinese. As the article mentioned, an overzealous and ignorant American coach suspicion of Miss Ye success in the pool is uncalled for and the badminton scandals should blame the game, not the players. The former wasn't her fault while the latter is not the players' fault alone, certainly is not restricted to the Chinese.

For you to add that comment is like pouring gasoline into a flame that's about to distinguished. Your intentions are suspicious at best.

 

[ahfatzia]

He is just another Indian racist. Mods just allow this tool to post china hating threads at will.

LOL He's an 'old hand' at such activities and there's nothing anyone can do about it. Leave him to enjoy what's he doing the best.

At the end of the game you guy will get most of the golds and that is the most important.

 

[fallstuff]

Sour grapes.

These folks can't accept the fact their collective behinds are being handed back to them by China. There were yelling the same allegation against the Soviet Union and Warsaw block nations before the collapse.

Somethings just don't change.

 

[Icecreamcart]

They obviously forgot that you're supposed to follow the principle of "Innocent until proven guilty". But then again, they probably just don't care, as hating on China gives them a high.

China was only 1 out of 4 teams disqualified in badminton, yet the OP blames China for the whole affair. Why not S.Korea, with their two teams?

Jan Jorgensen, a badminton player from Denmark, expressed the same sentiment with a hip-hop catch phrase that's probably never been applied to badminton before. "Don't hate the player," he said, "hate the game."

The OP isn't even agreeing with his own article.

 

[isro2222]

From the start i said that brits are idiots.... They are real racist who got racism in their genes.... They learn how to smile and hug country and than stab them.... there are the one who sended a red tshirt women. Red color they choose to insult india (red army).... Than they had a go at china in many events.... its not even a week completed yet they tarnish china's image totaly. infact olympics are watched by world. So they knew how to tarnish china's image and they got successful in it. Same thing they did with india in CWG.... have u know that at london olympics many things went wrong? The archery stand broken. No water to drink, not many people came to watch.... no shampoo and soap. Bed size 5.8 feet to save money. Gold medal not really gold to save money. Many decisions were taken wrong in boxing, judo etc etc. Many brits making fun of chinese every now and than, many things went wrong yet no noise.... It because brits rule by paying money. They really knows how to tarnish countries image even when they themself are biggest racist....

 

[Obambam]

From the start i said that brits are idiots.... They are real racist who got racism in their genes.... They learn how to smile and hug country and than stab them.... there are the one who sended a red tshirt women. Red color they choose to insult india (red army).... Than they had a go at china in many events.... its not even a week completed yet they tarnish china's image totaly. infact olympics are watched by world. So they knew how to tarnish china's image and they got successful in it. Same thing they did with india in CWG.... have u know that at london olympics many things went wrong? The archery stand broken. No water to drink, not many people came to watch.... no shampoo and soap. Bed size 5.8 feet to save money. Gold medal not really gold to save money. Many decisions were taken wrong in boxing, judo etc etc. Many brits making fun of chinese every now and than, many things went wrong yet no noise.... It because brits rule by paying money. They really knows how to tarnish countries image even when they themself are biggest racist....

Displaying the South Korean flag next to a North Korean player on the large screen, referring a Japanese competitor as Chinese and complementing the time of the swimmer who finished second after the Chinese instead of praising the winner etc. Disgusting attitude.

 

[888jamie888]

From the start i said that brits are idiots.... They are real racist who got racism in their genes.... They learn how to smile and hug country and than stab them.... there are the one who sended a red tshirt women. Red color they choose to insult india (red army).... Than they had a go at china in many events.... its not even a week completed yet they tarnish china's image totaly. infact olympics are watched by world. So they knew how to tarnish china's image and they got successful in it. Same thing they did with india in CWG.... have u know that at london olympics many things went wrong? The archery stand broken. No water to drink, not many people came to watch.... no shampoo and soap. Bed size 5.8 feet to save money. Gold medal not really gold to save money. Many decisions were taken wrong in boxing, judo etc etc. Many brits making fun of chinese every now and than, many things went wrong yet no noise.... It because brits rule by paying money. They really knows how to tarnish countries image even when they themself are biggest racist....

Fantastic, good one.
Yep we sent the red woman, which of course means the red army.
We had a go at China? That young girl? That was an American.
The last time gold medals were made of gold was in 1912.
The judges aren't all British you know, and then again who are you to disagree with them? Opinions will be different because they use their judgement, hence why they are called judges.
We make fun of the Chinese? When?
We rule by paying money? Yep because we're so rich atm.
Idiot.