The double standards of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London

It is the final weekend of the 2012 London Summer Olympics, they have turned out to be very pleasant and well organized Games, with an interesting contest for the number 1 position in the Medal Race between China and the USA, with Great Britain truly Great at the number 3 position and with The Netherlands exceeding expectations with 20 medals so far and a number 12 position in the Medal Race. Many great stories too, about the record breaking swimmer Michael Phelps or Marianne Vos, who won an important event after five years of second places. About 'champion turns legend' Usain Bolt or Flying Dutchman gymnast Epke Zonderland, about double gold medallist Mo Farah or about Sir Chris Hoy, who is now the greatest British Athlete on the Olympics.

I have chosen a different path, my focus for this blog will be on the more doubtful moments
of these lovely Summer Games, on questionable decisions, double standards and true sportsmanship.

This subject came into play when officials disqualified 4 teams from the badminton for trying to loose their games to best position themselves for the rest of the tournament. Imagine being an Olympian athlete, training 6 days a week, always conscious of what you eat and drink, never stay up late, sacrificing years of your (social) life for that one goal, that one dream: to climb Mount Olympus and to reach the top for a gold medal, knowing that there is only room for one winner at the mountain top.

You know all there is to know about your game, your sport. And if there is anything you don't know which is of interest to know, your coach will tell you.

You have studied the tournament set-up, you know there are qualifying rounds where you play a small competition in groups with other teams and the best 4 teams qualify for the quarter finals. You know that from the quarter finals it will be a knock out tournament. You are prepared, you know this.
Then the tournament starts, you are in a good position, you know you will qualify. You start to look around and look at the schedule ahead of you. Of course you are looking for the easiest route to the final, you want to avoid the top teams on the road to the final. So you make a plan to lose one or even more match(es) because that will give you the best position to reach your goal.

In the case of the badminton teams, this was said to be non-sportsmanship like and teams got expelled from the Olympic Games... they did not break any rule, they did not take doping, they only followed a strategy that would get them to the next level in the best possible way. What struck me most was not so much the (politically too correct) decision, but the lack of fuzz made about this by other athletes. This was not cheating, and still they were sent home, without a change to climb the mountain! I expected a riot amongst the fellow athletes. But nothing happened...

This weekend the Mens Basketball Final will be played. It is the same final as in the last Summer Olympics in Beijing: Spain plays Dream Team 6 of the USA. In the group before reaching the quarter finals, Spain was defeated by the Russian Team, the team they beat in the semi-final to reach the final.
Both teams are strong, so losing to the Russians in the group phase was not a shock. If Spain had finished second in their group behind Russia, they would have faced team USA in the semi-finals. So their strategy, after losing to the Russians, was to come third in their group, as they would then face the number 2 of the other group (behind the Dream Team) in the quarter finals and more importantly, play the winner of the match of Spain's group winner (the Russian team) in the semi-finals, avoiding the Dream Team in both matches. And so they lost their last group match to Brasil... on purpose, as it suited their route to Mount Olympus best. I have heard no complaints, no claims of foul play, nothing. Just good tactics.

In the spectacular BMX racing, the Olympic champion regained his Olympic title. The Latvian rider did not win any of his heats, he made a plan, his road to reach the final, and he followed it. He 'lost' some of his races on purpose, to save strength he knew he would need in the final lap. This strategy also eliminated some of his close competitors in favor of less talented riders. In the final heat, where it is 'winner takes all', he crushed the competition and showed his abilities for the first time in the two days BMX tournament, the only time it really mattered, and his strategy won him the gold medal. Again, no complaints, no foul play, just good tactics.

I believe that all competitive athletes will do what it takes to win an Olympic gold medal, even if it would mean losing a game or a race. Everything within the regulations and the tournament set-up.
This is what the badminton teams did, what the Spanish basketball team did and what Strombergs did.
Why were the badminton players eliminated from their tournament and sent home and why are the basketball players and the BMX champion complimented for their tactics? Beats me!

Another incident was the one around the Algerian 1500 meter contender. Feeling he might win the 1500 meter after he had done his series, he decided not to combine this tough discipline with the 800 meters, as that could hurt his chances on the 1500 meters. For a bureaucratic reason, he was forced to start in the 800 meters, which he did. He did not finish his race, to save his strength for the 1500 meter finals. He got disqualified for not trying his best in the 800 meters and was send home... imagine being an athlete with years and years of sacrifice and hard work and you are disqualified for following the best strategy to reach your Olympic goal! Double standards indeed.

How bureaucratic it all is, was proven later, when his disqualification was revoked because he could show a doctor's note saying he had knee problems which caused him to forfeit the 800 meters. He was accepted back in and later won the gold medal in the 1500 meters. A 'what if...' is in place here.

Sportsmanship and fair play are important, but confusing loosing a match on purpose with lack of sportsmanship is wrong as it can be part of a winning strategy. And if I am so wrong here, why wasn't the Columbian cyclist Uran Uran disqualified for so tawdry loosing the sprint for the gold medal, as he was promised a sizeable amount of money by Kazach hero Vinokurov to do so?

No action was taken and I agree that no action should have been taken. In any case. Only when people cheat to win should the Olympic Committee disqualify athletes, not when they hit a shuttle in the net.

To me the ladies badminton players were robbed from their shot at the mountain climb as they were sent home because they were playing way below their normal game. Roger Federer did exactly that in the mens tennis final, but no one complained. Must have had something to do with his opponent.

To wrap up, these were exceptionally well organized Olympic Games (I do not believe they will be called the best ever, as Sydney still are the best games ever in my book), with great sports and heroic winners. But injustice has been done to the eight badminton ladies who were sent home, in the name of true sportsmanship. I say double standards and that is as sorry as it is part of our everyday's world.