Tag: Olympics

A Disgraced Angel

Today I was appalled.  Was it hearing about Supreme Court Lying Ex President Clinton speaking in Las Vegas on Energy Conservation (I wonder how many people it takes to FLY Clinton to Nevada – bad news is he wasn’t on the campaign trail ruining another election)…. nor was it Bolt from Jamaica going on about how people like him for his cockiness and end of race taunting…. nope, neither of those things.  I was stunned by an Angel… by name only.  As it turns out Angel Matos – a Cuban Tae Kwon Do Olympian competing for the Bronze Medal decided he was unfairly penalized so roundhoused the referee.  That’s right, hauled off and kicked the referee who disqualified him (per the rules) for taking too much injury time (he was winning 3-2, but was knocked on his *ss by his opponent).   Now there are two overall goats for the Olympics and unfortunately this one hits closer to home since I spent many years in Tae Kwon Do and consider this a slap in the face of everything that discipline is based on. 

I still remember my TKD Tenants and Pledge to this day:

Tae Kwon Do Du Jun Sin (Tenants of TKD)

  • Ye-Ui – Courtesy
  • Yom Chy – Integrity
  • In-Nae – Perseverance
  • Guk Ke – Self Control
  • Bakjul Boolgool – Indomitable Spirit

 (pardon the translation attempt, it has been awhile since I wrote Korean)

My Pledge

  • I will obey the principles of TKD
  • I will obey instructor and all senior ranks
  • I will never misuse TKD
  • I will be a champion of freedom
  • I will build a more peaceful world

 Might as well throw in my Master Commandments while I’m at it:

Kwan Jang Nim Hoon Se

  • Chung Kyul – Cleanliness
  • Tin-Seel – Truth
  • Kyum Son – Humble
  • Sa-Rang/Ja Bae – Mercy
  • Duk Do – Spiritually Awake

 I was expected to know these upon any prompting from my instructors and required to demonstrate this knowledge along with Korean philosophies for all techniques and forms before every belt test – knowledge before technique, technique before use and competency before advancement.  Yet for some reason this sad excuse for a martial artist apparently didn’t see an issue with attacking a judge … nor did his coach who was apparently unapologetic.  The World Taekwondo Federation has issued him a lifetime ban – which is a good first step, but I am thinking an additional exhibition at the Beijing closing ceremonies should include an example of Kyum Son – Maybe a Monkey or Crane style demonstration to see if Angel’s black belt is really up to standards.  But alas, I’ll obey Ja-Bae and hope none of my students ever show such disrespect to the ancient arts.

Pil Sung!

Utter Failure for USA Runners

Ugh… I just finished watching the Men’s and Women’s relays.  Pretty basic really…. run real fast, pass a baton to the next runner and repeat until the finish.  Let me pause for a few minutes to let the flood of defensive statements crash through my monitor… tick tick.. “Oh yeah, then you try it”, tick tick “They’re at the Olympics and you are sitting at home so there”, tick tick “Don’t ridicule unless you can do better” tick tick – okay, times up.  Pretty lame comebacks, but I’ll quickly address one… Give me four years to practice every day of my life and I will guarantee you that I could pass a small cylinder to another run without watching it bang onto the ground.  What makes this so ridiculous is that it was a heat race … which means even if you don’t have a chance to beat the Jamaicans, you should be able to at least get in the top four even if you run a “safe” race and go slower at the transfers.  But no, both the men and the women played hot potato on the last leg and succeeded in flushing any medal chance down the drain.  I guess the cherry on the shame cake was the women’s after race interview where they runner claimed she didn’t know what went wrong and that they were the best team out there … GOOOOONNNGGGG  a) you know exactly what went wrong, you dropped the baton because you were not focused and b) every team out there without a DNF after their team name was better than you. 

Note, I was actually surprised at the commentator statements to the same effect at the end of the event – in fact, they basically spelled it out as lack of leadership and inability to deliver across the board.  Before I f0rget, I would like to give some credit to Dix in his respectful acceptance in the bronze medal last night after two faster runners (one an American) failed to stay in their lanes – I think he actually stated he still lost and thanked the officials for the medal – contrast with American supposed silver medalist that was tossing the word “protest” around… tapes rarely lie

by the way, did anyone see the US women’s pole vaulter getting a tongue lashing by her coach because she only won a silver medal?  Can someone direct me to the Olympic Creed again – she made it to the final rounds (runners check that) and then came up one position behind a lady that was clearly tops in the field (…. update, someone mentioned this lady was actually trash talking the gold medalist before the event -if this is true, I will recant my statements since I can’t stand that)