Basic HTML Version
26 | Touchline issue 22 | November 2015
touchline feature
MEN
(AND WOMEN)
BEHAVING BADLY
By Timothy Mottram
•Angel Matos attacks the
referee:
Beijing 2008.
Cuban Matos was a hot tip to win
the taekwondo gold in 2008, but
managed to get himself disqualified
by taking too much of a time out
during an injury break. The official
limit is one minute, but Matos
decided everyone could just wait
until he was good and ready to
return to the bout. Astounded
that the referee would have the
audacity of apply the rules, Matos
flipped. He charged the referee and
proceeded to kick and punch him.
Matos was subsequently banned
from Olympic competition for life.
•Canada relights the flame
with a cigarette lighter:
Quebec 1976.
As featured in this edition of
Touchline, the flame is an integral
symbol for the purity of Olympic
competition. Canadian officials
must not have read the memo.
After heavy rain extinguished the
flame in the official cauldron, they
relit the flame with a cigarette
lighter. On discovery of this
Olympic faux pas, it was once again
put out and rekindled with one of
the back-up flames brought from
Olympia.
•Opening ceremony
counterfeiting:
Beijing 2008.
Beijing seems to be a rich source
for fails, and it managed to do so
right from the start. Apparently,
the fireworks display was not
amped enough for the organisers,
so more explosions were added
electronically for the televised
version. On a sadder note, the
young girl who delighted the
world by singing so beautifully
was actually lip-synching. The
authorities decided that the original
singer was not attractive enough
to be the face of China, so replaced
her with another girl.
The Olympic spirit brings out the very best in its athletes. The Olympic charter
says so. But when the stakes are this high, when people’s whole lives have
been building to this race or that performance, it is unsurprising that some
competitors revert to child-like rage when they lose. The list of Olympic fails and
dummy spits is a long one, but bear in mind these are only the recorded ones.
It is impossible to know how many racist slurs, smashed hotel rooms and foul
mouthed complaints happen when we aren’t watching.
Here are a few of the most un-Olympic moments of the games.