london 2012

We are almost two weeks into the Olympics and I was pretty on board when they started, having checked out many events from rowing to swimming to gymnastics. Where I started to get irked was around the badminton match between China's Wang Xiaoli & Yu Yang and South Korea's Jung Kyung-eun & Kim Ha-na. I've seen someone throw a game before, but I have never seen both sides trying to lose. The match didn't feature a rally of over four returns (you can do better than that in your backyard with ten beers in your system), with serves being hit into the net and routine shots hit way long. The same thing happened with the Ha Jung-eun & Kim Min-jung (South Korea) versus Meiliana Jauhari (Indonesia). Both teams were looking for an easier draw next round, but throwing games doesn't really go along with the ethics of sportsmanship in the Olympics. All eight competitors were disqualified. 

The social media doesn't bother me as much, since you can say what you want (within reason) in this day and age, not to mention that something that may appear to be accepted in some cultures may not in others. So, I take that with a grain of salt, and actually am kind of surprised by how many athletes have been expelled because of Twitter and Facebooking comments (like the pictured Greek triple jumper who was expelled just before the games).  

What did it for me, and many Canadians was the Canada-US female soccer game. The Canadians are leading the Americans 3-2 with time almost expired. Canadian goalie Erin McLeod held the ball for more than 6 seconds and apparently that is a violation, but one that it seldom called especially at such a crucial time of the game. The US is awarded a free kick and on the ensuing play the ball, at least semi-indirectly, hits a Canadian defender and we get called on a handball, then American Abby Wambach scores on the penalty kick awarded to them for the aforementioned handball. The US won it 4-3 in extra time. Forward Christine Sinclair, the best female player on the Canada team and arguably the world, said after the game "the ref decided the result before the game started." FIFA (who apparently is governing body at the Olympics?) is looking into the incidents/comments to see if supplementary action against the Canadians is required. Yes, the Canadians comments are being looked into. Not to the absolutely TERRIBLE refereeing. 

Maybe I'm just sick of London 2012, and wish it would stop pre-empting all the baseball games, but I just can't wait for them to be over. You get pretty excited at the start, then it wanes, slowly, as you watch the games unfold, then you become sick of them because of the politics and apparent match fixing. It's on every channel, every morning, then recaps all afternoon. And we're not doing too great on the Canadian front. I think we are better suited for the winter Olympics since everyone thinks we live in igloos anyways. But we can ski, skate, play hockey and curl... so spread that on your discus and smoke it!