The Black Shuttle-Sox

Eight Olympic badminton players were DQ'd from the rest of the games for throwing round robin matches in order to manipulate their knockout round match-ups. I wonder if perhaps they need to institute a forfeit option in the future?

http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012/badminton/story/_/id/8221408/2012-london-olympics-eight-badminton-players-disqualified-trying-lose-matches

 

Whatever they need to do needs to happen in the future. If the rules are such that there's a strategic advantage to losing, the rules need to change. It isn't the players' fault at all.

 

It's always eight, isn't it ...

 

Joe Gedeon weeps.

 

World Cup soccer had a similar problem into the 1980s. See West Germany-Austria 1982. They concocted a result (a 1-0 West German win) to get them both through in their group, leaving Algeria, which had upset West Germany, out.

I believe it also happened in the 1978 World Cup though the format was different at the time.

This is why the last matches in the group stages at World Cup are played concurrently.

However, it could still happen that a team that has clinched could lose a match to get a theoretically more favorable matchup.

 

Video of both sides tanking...

http://www.businessinsider.com/badminton-teams-disqualified-olympics-video-2012-8

 

I know it's horrible to say, but I loved the crowd reactions.

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/michael_rosenberg/08/01/badminton-scandal/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t13_a0

Rosenberg with a mocking column. Had to go for the shuttlecock line, didn't he (says the guy most likely to use such a line in a post)

 

Good point.

 

"Say it ain't so, Yu Yang. Say it ain't so."