Strangely, and unlike any other sport I can think of, it's apparently all right to have another go if there's a mishap at the start of a race. This unique and 'generous' approach within the world of cycling means it's relatively easy for cyclists to introduce some manipulation when necessary. This is exactly what Hindes did; he purposely used a loophole in the competition rules to get a second go for the trio.
I think there's a clear case for a change in the rules, which are lax enough to result in this blatant gamesmanship. Nevertheless, rule deficiencies aside, the unsportsmanlike antics of GB were hardly things to be proud of, and they remove any rights we felt we may have had to criticise other teams, whether for drawing 0-0 on the football pitch to avoid relocating from Cardiff to Glasgow, or in Badminton, where bizzarely a number of competitors in the doubles matches were trying to lose.
What is rather pathetic is the useless 'cover up' engineered by members of the GB team and endorsed wholeheartedly by the BBC. Philip Hindes admitted most publicly and comprehensively how he fell on purpose, to gain a restart. He even went so far as to explain how this was discussed the night before the race, as a tactic that could be put into action if the appropriate circumstances arose. I suspect he admitted this so readily because he knew he was not technically breaking the rules, and felt no need to be coy or embarrassed. Unfortunately the spirit of the competition had been tainted to fuck.
British Backpedal
The subsequent scurrying around (back-pedalling if you'd like a pun) to try and promote this whole thing as a 'misunderstanding', and that details were 'lost in translation' was so much more reprehensible, damaging and fucking ludicrous than the falling off by Hindes. Double standards, Team GB. I am sure that Hoy was, as reported, rather angry because his marvellous achievement (5th Gold) was indeed embroiled in some controversy. I am not talking of the fact that one of the three in the team was born in Germany [NB: The rules on nationality, and the fickleness of countries who are desperate to attract new citizens is a can of worms far too big to open on this post] but that really the three-man sprint team should not have been given a second chance to start. We will never know if the Gold Medal would have been won without this manipulation.
The BBC conspired in the cover-up, and is unlikely to re-examine events in any details, let alone with an objective view. Instead, it will hail the efforts of all British cysclists (with good reason) and hope we'll all forget about the one episode that should have left a bad taste in the mouths of genuine sporting enthusiasts. I remember a doubles match at Wimbledon a few weeks ago where a player accidently touched the net at the end of a rally; despite not being seen to do so or penalised for it, he owned up, and so voluntarily forfeited the point because it was the right thing to do. That's sportsmanship and integrity. There would at least be some integrity if the cyclists and the BBC admitted that there had indeed been some clever use of the rules to gain an advantage. Everyone knows this to be the case, yet we are now expected to swallow some guff about 'translation issues' and that nothing as distasteful as falling on purpose took place. This is the only disgraceful thing I have seen by GB in terms of competition. I obviously have to discount the non-competitive disgrace of certain Team GB members who when it comes to singing/acknowledging the National Anthem are suddently not British, but Welsh or Scottish and anti the team they are representing!
Summary
1 - Unsporting tactics employed
2 - Admission of the tactics employed
3 - Delayed denial of the tactics so obviously used
4 - Cover-up that was a worse display than the tactics employed!
...
No comments:
Post a Comment