Sunday, August 24, 2008

Taekwon D'oh!

Lots of controversy in this judged sport. If you are reading my Olympic blog, you have no doubt seen and/or read about the Cuban Taekwondo athlete who kicked a referee and was banned for life (as was his coach). On a personal note, huge respect to the ref because he didn't go down.
Ref Kicked Story


The Lopez family of Sugarland, Texas was also on the bad end of dubious judging.
Steven Lopez controversy


The outcome of another match was overturned after it ended and a formal protest was made.
Stevenson Wins Bronze after match result overturned


If I were to wager, I'd bet that Taekwondo would be cut from Olympic games due to the controversy stemming from the draconian and opaque ruling of the sport by the World Taekwondo Federation (per the Steven Lopez controversy article by David Barron linked above). There is a chance, however, that controversy will attract more attention for the sport much like the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan/Jeff Gillooly affair. As they say, there is no such thing as bad press.

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