Not if you're German. When they lose a World Cup final they call the team the Vizeweltpokalmeistermannschaft. Literally the vice champion team of the world cup.

More briefly "losers".

I've never heard a German use the word Vizeweltkreigmeistern though.

Actually it glosses over the point that as soon as the idea of a round robin stage was floated back in the spring it was inevitable that players / coaches looking to maximise their chance of a medal would try to manipulate the draw for the knockout round via the results in the round robin.

Its really no different to the footy where one team was glad of a draw to avoid having to change bases, but these athletes, for whom the Olympics are truly the pinnacle of the sport, get punished for doing what was actually in their best interests to progress to the medal rounds, by playing badly.

If you ask me the fault is entirely with the federation that decided to go with the round robin, with entirely foreseeable and farcical consequences.

It's all pretty sad, really. I'll try to watch it all if I can find the time - but did the referee not sufficiently warn the competitors that they could be disqualified?

I agree completely. It's not as if any of these players weren't trying their hardest to win the medals - it was a tactic forced on them by the organisers to maximise their chances of ultimate success.

I don't see anything substantially different from, say, a swimmer taking it easy in heat and saving themselves for a final or another race. It seems to happen all the time.

Its a little different in that a swimmer in a heat still has to do well enough to get to the next round. In this case both sides were actively trying to lose to get an easier draw in the next round, it was pretty farcical and certainly if i was a spectator paying good money to watch I would have been pissed off.

Tha'ts not the competitors problems though is it? The olympics come only every 4 years, and they have put in years of effort to have the opportunity to compete. If losing was going to give me a better chance in the next round I would have done the same as them, even if it meant putting up with the boos.

It is the competitors fault. They were warned by the referee to stop doing it - they didn't and so were kicked out.

It's plainly daft for a referee to compel players to do their best to end up in an unfavourable competitive situation.

Yeah, I agree it's a crap system that encourages cheating like this.

What makes it their own fault is that they continued to cheat after they got caught. That's just stupid as you don't get a more "unfavourable competitive situation" than being thrown out of the event. They should have cheated better.

They wuz only obeying orders

Yes, but it's badminton.

Your point being?


Have you ever played badminton?... its a killer, makes squash seem like a stroll in the park.

Its was only the nerdy kids at school that played it because they were crap at football.

But it's safer than riding a bike.

I used to play at lunchtime when I was a student. I was a nerdy kid that played 1st team hockey and it was good fitness training for me. One of my friends was on the badminton squad, he used to torture me by placing the damn thing just in reach and keeping me going back and forth. Bastard. At least the squash players didnt toy with me.