Fidel Castro has defended Angel Matos, the Cuban Taekwondo athlete who kicked a referee in the head at the Beijing Olympics. Castro feels that Matos was right to be indignant over his disqualification during the bronze medal match.
Olympic officials want Matos and his coach banned from the sport for life for his controversial actions after he was eliminated from the tournament. But Castro has declared his "total solidarity" for his fellow countrymen.
Matos was actually winning 3-2 in the second round when he fell to the mat after being caught with a blow from his Kazakhstan opponent. He was then disqualified when he took more than the one minute he was allocated to recover from an injury.
Matos questioned the call immediately, angrily pushing the judge before turning his attentions to the referee who disqualified him. The referee, Chakir Chelbat from Sweden needed medical attention after the altercation, requiring stitches in a split lip. Matos walked off spitting on the ring in disgust.
His behavior has been described as disgraceful by officials, and Matos' counter claims that the match was fixed have fallen on deaf ears. Matos coach then waded in defending his protege, adding that the Kazakh's also tried to bribe them. These claims have also been unfounded.
Fidel feels that the bribery attempt gave his athletes good reason to expect biased judging. Castro added that Cuban boxers were also cheated in their semi-final bouts during the Olympics.
Castro then said: "Our fighters had hopes of winning, despite the judges. But it was useless, they were condemned beforehand."
Judging in many of the contact sports during the Olympics, especially boxing, has been called into question in many corners.
Two Irish boxers complained bitterly of their treatment at the hands of the judges when facing Chinese boxers. Light heavyweight Ken Egan who won the silver, was beaten 11-7 in the final by a Chinese boxer. Egan only conceded five points through four bouts on the way to the final.
Fellow Irishman Paddy Barnes was beaten an incredible 15-0, and while Irish officials did not feel he won the fight they felt the young boxer should have lost by a score of 12-6. And the fact he went four rounds without landing a punch show that something was wrong with the judging system.
So maybe Castro has a point. China and Kazakhstan recently announced a massive oil deal...but fixing doesn't happen in sports...does it?
18 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
john montgomory 10 months ago
good article mate. kinda lost your way at the end though.
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Thomas 10 months ago
the guy was acting stupid.
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Willie Gannon 10 months ago
i agree thomas he acted like an idiot
but he did dedicate his life for that moment and to feel he was cheated in that way a reaction was guaranteed
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Jo-Ryan Salazar 10 months ago
I think taekwondo's case to be back in the Olympic programme has taken a hit harder that the one on Chelbat.
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Dorothy Willis 10 months ago
Injuring a referee is uncalled for in any sport. Even if some contests were fixed, there is nothing to be done about it now.
Great article.
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Willie Gannon 10 months ago
i couldn't agree more dorothy.
he may have felt cheated but you cant attack a referee in any sport. otherwise chaos ensues. if it happened in mma he'd be banned for life. and thats what should happen here, no matter how cheated he feels.
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john montgomory 10 months ago
you're right dorothy. injuring a ref is uncalled for in any sport.
even if you did feel robbed.
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Mike Barraza 10 months ago
The boxing was all screwed up, even Teddy Atlas said so in his commentary. And yes it seems that the Chinese boxers or Chinese athletes in general were treated generously by the judges. That happened often in PRIDE too during the early days, Japanese fighters were often given a lot of undeserved points when fights went to a decision.
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john montgomory 10 months ago
boxing judges in the olympics were strange dude.
some of their decisions beggered belief.
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Willie Gannon 10 months ago
the judging in the boxing was questioned in all quaters. punches to the mid section didn'tr seem to be counted at all.
and an alarming amount of chineses boxers won gold. and lets face it china's hardly a hotbed of boxing action.
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Willie Gannon 10 months ago
in what way john?
by referencing the irish boxing decisions i drew attention to other strange judging decisions.
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Thomas 10 months ago
he should still know how to deal with it like a man.
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Willie Gannon 10 months ago
true. the swedish wrestler looked cool compared to him. you just cant attack a ref.
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Dorothy Willis 10 months ago
Plus, I thought that all martial arts emphasized discipline and respect for others.
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Willie Gannon 10 months ago
very true. martial arts are the most disciplined of sports, with most being true sportsmen in the way that they can treat victory and defeat as the same. in my eyes thats the marking of a true sportsman, not getting carried away emotionally by either.
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Dorothy Willis 10 months ago
Exactly!
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Willie Gannon 10 months ago
unfortunetly most people are people, and usually only the very best athletes attain this level of composure. but its something that is installed in most martial artists as its regarded as being as important as technique.
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sanjeev parata 10 months ago
i know he shouldnt have attacked the ref but he worked his whole life for that moment. everybody freaks out sometimes.
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