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#Post#: 62--------------------------------------------------
Women Epee Quarter-Finals
DIR By: nash
Date: September 30, 2012, 9:05 am
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Probably one of the most memorable moments of the London 2012
Olympics. With only one second to the clock, Shin lost because
the timer did not start in sync with the umpire :/
#Post#: 63--------------------------------------------------
Re: Women Epee Quarter-Finals
DIR By: Chris
Date: September 30, 2012, 9:15 am
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Hi there. My name is Chris and I feel that if there's something
about the Olympics that really struck me, it would be the entire
fiasco that occurred in the semi finals of fencing's epee event.
Check out the picture below.
HTML http://in.news.yahoo.com/photos/twenty-golden-moments-of-the-2012-london-olympics-slideshow/olympics-day-3-fencing-photo-1344799444.html
To someone who doesn't fence, it would just be a picture of a
person seating dejectedly on the platform because she most
presumably lost the game. To a person who knows the traditions
and rules of fencing, it means a whole lot more. For a fencer to
sit on the platform after the game is over, it signifies a
protestation of some sort. It is a sign of the fencer
disagreeing with the judges' decision and not refusing to accept
it. This does not happen often, especially on fencing's biggest
stage but when it happens, it became an absolute farce.
What's the story?
South Korea's Shin A Lam led Germany's Britta Heidermann by a
single point. Officially, Heidermann had just one second to
launch an attack and score a touch, which would advance her on
to the gold medal match to face the Ukraine's Yana Shemyakina, a
lack of time which all but ensured that Shin would advance.
Instead, the timing mechanism on the piste became stuck, giving
Heidermann extra time to complete her attack and win the bout,
which earned her the spot in the gold medal bout. Officials,
unsure what to do without a true, official protocol to follow,
eventually decided to award the victory to Heidermann. As one
might expect, Shin and her coaches were enraged with the
decision, and launched an immediate appeal. Yet the appeal
itself proved to be incredibly lengthy process. After more than
30 minutes of a delay that included the Korean federation having
to expedite a payment for the use in the official appeal, Shin's
attempt to overturn the result failed.
What's the significance?
1) It shows the incompetence of the International Fencing
Committee or the Olympics Organizing Committee
2) It shows the political play at work
3) It shows how ridiculous humans are when it comes to following
the rules
Why is that so?
When the official appeal was launched, they should have
addressed it immediately. Granted that there is a rule stating
that a fee has to be made, it is common sense to address the
appeal first before seeking payment. However as in many
instances, common sense did not prevail and the fencing
judges/officials made a complete fool out of themselves in front
of a world audience by refusing to address the appeal until the
appeal fee was submitted. Why did this happen? They wasted the
whole world's time and they delayed the entire scheduling for
the rest of the matches. The end result? Reputation in tatters.
I also feel that there may be a certain element of political
play at work (I maybe wrong). Germany is a fencing powerhouse
and Heidermann is one of the top few fencers in the world. Hence
with this view in mind, the judges may not want to offend a
fencing powerhouse and therefore they were not "ballsy" enough
to give a decision against her because the rulebook did not
state what would happen if a stopwatch is faulty. It's sad
because it is really quite impossible to make 4 attacks in the
space of 1 sec. It defies logic together with the rules of
physics and South Korea could definitely feel very hard done by
the judges decision.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Chris
#Post#: 64--------------------------------------------------
Re: Women Epee Quarter-Finals
DIR By: raymond
Date: September 30, 2012, 9:21 am
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Hi,
I do agree that it was ridiculous for the organising committee
to ask for a fee before they process the appeal, resulting a
long waiting time on the platform. The fencer then had to be
subjected with the unnecessary pressure and jeering from the
crowd.
Kudos to the fencer who believed in fighting and holding on to
what she believe. Even though she lost, I think she is a winner.
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