Controversy: At THIS Olympics?!

[selkie]

Two Belarusian officials sent home over their role in the Tsimanouskaya events-

https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1111310/belarus-tsimanouskaya-ioc-president-bach

 

 

[Vermicious Knid]

Oh, the other US men fencers wore pink masks to protest their own teammate. Sort of poetic justice:

Quote

In the end, Hadzic, an alternate on the men's epee team, did not compete in the Games. The U.S. team lost to Japan on Friday and finished ninth.

 

[Cherpumple]

10 hours ago, selkie said:

Two Belarusian officials sent home over their role in the Tsimanouskaya events-

I really wish they would've been arrested for kidnapping and thrown in a Japanese prison pending trial.

I also wish the media/Polish Embassy hadn't publicly announced which country had given her asylum. We already know that these people don't respect borders when it comes to getting to their enemies. I'm still very scared for her and her family.

[Danny Franks]

17 hours ago, kittykat said:

Fucking hell.  After the last five years of progress and attention and the solidarity with victims, it is so damn infuriating that there are men out there with the confidence that they will STILL GET AWAY WITH IT!  Oh wait, that's what happens when you allow predators on your team because you think they have a shot at a medal *coughUSfencingcough*. It's not just individual accountability a systemic overhaul is needed.

For some of these guys, I think they really don't consider what they're doing to be sexual harassment. It's their way of trying to attract women, of flirting or hitting on them, and the idea that it's harassment has never crossed their minds. All the women who get upset are just 'uptight' or something.

It's incredibly difficult to change a person's behaviour if they can't comprehend that it's wrong.

4 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

I really wish they would've been arrested for kidnapping and thrown in a Japanese prison pending trial.

I also wish the media/Polish Embassy hadn't publicly announced which country had given her asylum. We already know that these people don't respect borders when it comes to getting to their enemies. I'm still very scared for her and her family.

Her family who are still in Belarus, most of all. Dictators think nothing of persecuting family members as a way of causing pain to those who offend them.

This should all result in a ban for Belarus from international sports.

[Bill1978]

German coach thrown out of Olympics for punching a horse

[legaleagle53]

12 minutes ago, Bill1978 said:

German coach thrown out of Olympics for punching a horse

I hope the horse kicked him in retaliation first!

[Bill1978]

1 minute ago, legaleagle53 said:

I hope the horse kicked him in retaliation first!

Having watched the Women's Modern Pentathlon live and witnessing the moment as it unfurled I can confirm the horse had the last laugh as the coach's athlete fell from first to no chance of medalling.

I understand the German athletes frustration with the way the horse was behaving, I really do. But part of the sport is hoping on an unknown horse and knowing how to deal with it. The more upset the athlete got, the more stubborn the horse became. The coach should not have hit that horse no matter their frustration.

What I find fascinating in the story is the focus on a favourite being knocked out cause of a difficult horse, but there is little mention of the other athlete who also got knocked out of contention because they rode the same horse and it was being difficult. The only mention is 'the horse behaved similarly with an earlier rider'. Each horse gets ridden twice.

I imagine all the horses are vetted before being chosen for the event but clearly there was something spooking this particular horse that day, and hitting it (coach) and having a meltdown while on it (athlete) wasn't helping the situation. And once the horse has entered the competition it can't be replaced. And all horses are assigned randomly based on a split field and points.