The National Human Rights Commission of South Korea has gotten involved in the ongoing scandal over women's and girl's sports coaches sexually assaulting their athletes.
The National Human Rights Commission (국가인권위원회) and the Korea Sports Council (대한체육회) have joined hands to confront the scandal over sexual assault and violence in the sports world. The two organizations announced on the 14th at the Oympic Parktel in Songpa-gu, Seoul, that they will work together to improve human rights in the sports world. The NHRC said, "a recent television broadcast revealed that a great number of athletes have been exposed physical and mentally violence and though citizens are shocked and angry, the investigsations, punishments, and reforms carried out so far have been inadequate." The agreement specifies that violence and sexual violence will be investigated, punishment for offenders will be pursued, and that there will be human rights education for coaches of student athletes. The press conference was attended by marathon gold medalist Hwang Yeong-jo, former volleyball player Jang Yun-chang, and Taekwondo gold medalist Jeong Jae-eun, all of whom promised to work to protect the rights of their successors. The Commission announced that several current high-ranking coaches have sexually assaulted or molested their athletes including a girls' middle school basketball coach, who did so in April of 2007 and was not punished but simply transferred to another school; a girls' swimming coach at an elementary school in Chungcheongnam-do in 2004; a girls' high school school basketball coach in 2000 who is now a women's basketball coach; and a women's volleyball head coach in 1996.
Showing posts with label sport/morality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sport/morality. Show all posts
Star cyclists failed Beijing doping tests
Rebellin, who won silver in the road race in China, has been suspended from all competition, a spokesman said.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) revealed on Tuesday that six athletes had given positive results as samples taken at the Beijing Games were re-tested for a more advanced strain of the blood-boosting hormone CERA.
CNN was also able to confirm on Wednesday that German cyclist Stefan Schumacher was among the athletes who failed tests.
The German cycling federation told CNN that they had received information from the IOC that the 27-year-old Schumacher had tested positive and could request for the back-up B sample to be opened.
Schumacher, who like Rebellin rode for the now-disbanded Gerolsteiner team last season, has been under a cloud after a similar positive test for CERA during the 2008 Tour de France where he won two stages.
Cycling's world governing body, the UCI, have already banned Schumacher for two years in February.
The 37-year-old Rebellin is in the autumn of his career, but has followed his silver at the Olympics with a superb victory in the Fleche Wallone one-day classic last week.
Rebellin, who forged his reputation with an unprecedented hat-trick of wins in the Ardennes Classics in 2004, has denied the doping allegations and requested the B sample be tested, the Italian media reported on Wednesday.
The IOC reported on their official Web site that a total of 948 samples were analyzed, with seven tests, from six athletes, coming back as positive.
"The further analysis of the Beijing samples that we conducted should send a clear message that cheats can never assume that they have avoided detection," said Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC Medical Commission, in a statement.
"The vast majority of athletes do not seek an unfair advantage. We intend to do all we can to ensure that they have a fair environment for competition."
The latest round of testing, which began in January, focused primarily on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and athletics.
The testing took advantage of improved technology to seek evidence of the prohibited use of CERA, a new strain of EPO, and insulin.
As a general rule, all top five finishers in each event, plus a further two, were drug tested.
As speculation about the identity of the six athletes increased, the U.S. Olympic committee told CNN that that they had not been notified of any adverse findings involving their athletes.
"Unless we hear otherwise, we are treating no news as good news," said spokesman Darryl Seibel.
Olympic officials in 2008 and 2012 hosts China and Great Britain also told CNN that none of their team members in Beijing had tested positive.Reported on April 29, 2009
1988 - Roy Jones Jr. in Seoul Olympics
Roy Jones Jr. represented the United States at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games where he won the silver medal. Jones dominated his opponents, never losing a single round en route to the final. His participation in the final proved to be hugely controversial when he lost a highly disputed 3-2 decision. Jones lost to South Korean fighter Park Si-Hun, despite pummeling Park for three rounds, landing 86 punches to Park’s 32. Allegedly, Park himself apologized to Jones afterwards. One judge shortly thereafter admitted the decision was a mistake, and all three judges voting against Jones were eventually suspended. An official IOC investigation concluding in 1997 found that three of the judges were wined and dined by Korean officials, but the IOC still officially stands by the decision.
posted by online blogger Chester Cheater
posted by online blogger Chester Cheater
abusive manager?
Alex Ferguson launched a furious attack on referee Martin Atkinson after his decision to award a controversial free-kick sent Manchester United crashing to a 1-0 defeat at title rival Chelsea yesterday.
Atkinson ruled that Darren Fletcher's 76th-minute challenge on Ashley Cole was worthy of a foul even though the Scot appeared to win the ball and, from the resulting Frank Lampard set piece, John Terry headed in the winner.
Ferguson's side are now five points behind Chelsea and the United manager, who also claimed Didier Drogba fouled Wes Brown as the free-kick was taken, had no doubts that Atkinson was to blame for his team's third defeat of the season.
"Clearly, Darren Fletcher's won the ball, Ashley Cole (was) never touched and has jumped up in the air, and then (Didier) Drogba's pulled Brown to the ground for the goal," Ferguson said.
"The referee's position to make the decision was absolutely ridiculous, he can't see anything. He's got a Chelsea player (Joe Cole) standing right in front of him and he doesn't even move.
"That goal shouldn't have been allowed. It was a bad decision, but there's nothing we can do about it. You lose faith in refereeing sometimes, that's the way the players are talking in there. It was a bad one."
Ferguson insisted United had been the better team but he conceded it had only itself to blame for failing to create clear-cut chances despite dominating possession. Such actions are unacceptable and not exemplary.
east germans cheat 0:
What should a sport's guardians do when they learn that its orderly progression of records has been tainted by cheating? The IAAF, the organization that oversees track and field around the world, offered one answer to that question two years ago after Ben Johnson admitted under oath during a Canadian government inquiry that he had used anabolic steroids before the 1987 world championships. On the basis of that confession, the IAAF strippedJohnson not only of the gold medal he had won in the 100 in those championships but also of the world record he had set in doing so.
The question was raised again last week when 20 swim coaches from what used to be East Germany admitted giving steroids, which had been banned by FINA, their sport's governing body, to some of their world-class swimmers in the 1970s and '80s. East German sports officials showed no compunction whatsoever about exploiting young athletes for the greater good of promoting national glory.
It's hard not to feel sorry for those athletes who were manipulated so shamelessly. It's also hard not to feel sympathy for the generation of women athletes of other countries who had to swim in the shadow of their juiced-up East German counterparts. In 1976, Shirley Babashoff was all set to be the Mark Spitz of the MontrealOlympics. She was expected to be a contender for four individual gold medals and had set a world record in the 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials.
But the Olympics were phenomenally frustrating for Babashoff. Though she swam superbly, going under the previous world-record times in the 400 and 800 freestyles, she was beaten in both those races by Petra Th�mer ofEast Germany, which won 11 of the 13 golds in women's swimming. Babashoff won no individual events, and it was not until the last women's event, the 4 X 100 free relay, that she finally won a gold medal, by anchoring the U.S.team to victory in world-record time.
Dean Richards
An independent appeals committee, set up by the European Rugby Cup, gave the club's former director of rugby a three-year ban for his role in Tom Williams's fake blood injury during the Heineken Cup defeat to Leinster and the subsequent cover-up.
That ban — and a two-year penalty for Brennan — were today confirmed as worldwide by the IRB.
It was claimed at the hearing in Glasgow that Richards and Brennan, who was today suspended from his role as England physio, had been involved in four more cases of fake injuries.
Those revelations will be detailed in the judgment and RFU chiefs, meeting today, have decided to wait for that report to be published by the ERC before deciding whether to take action against Richards and Brennan.
They could also punish Quins, who had their original fine increased by £44,000 to £259,000.
It is thought the judgment will be available within the next seven days.
The RFU said today: “European Rugby Cup has sent out a strong message that there is no room for this kind of behaviour in rugby. That is a message the RFU will continue to repeat across the game in England and through our own disciplinary processes.
“We can confirm that we will be upholding the bans handed out by the ERC across our jurisdiction and that on this particular incident we will not be taking further action as we believe the ERC sanctions are appropriate.
“However, given the disclosure in yesterday's appeal hearing of further incidents of a similar nature in other competitions we are awaiting the full documentation from ERC to enable us to review whether there is further action the RFU needs to take against the club, its current or former officials, on those other incidents. We will issue a further statement when we have properly reviewed the documentation.”
Quins chief executive Mark Evans knows his club, which at least escaped a Heineken Cup ban, face a battle to repair their tarnished image.
He said: “It's been a very gruelling time and this has put the whole organisation under a great deal of pressure. We have to take internal action, but that is the way it is. Our reputation has been damaged and we are going to have to work hard to restore that. It's been a bit of a wake-up call for everybody.
“I think that there are very few rugby clubs, if any, that have got the sort of processes in place that you probably need.
“We didn't have a number of things in place that we will have now. We are going to have a compliance policy probably more fitting to a FTSE250 company than a rugby club but that's the kind of scrutiny you're under these days.”
Damien Hopley, chief executive of the Professional Rugby Players' Association said the fall-out from the incident was a warning to the whole sport.
“The aftermath of this episode has left an indelible stigma on the professional game,” he said.
“There is no place for cheating in rugby and the players welcome the findings as an overdue wake up call and very strong deterrent.”
The controversy stems from Quins' April clash with Leinster, when winger Williams used a blood capsule to fake an injury so he could be replaced by specialist kicker Nick Evans.
Evans came onto the pitch with five minutes to go but missed a drop kick and Quins lost 6-5.
Leinster suspected Williams's injury was not real and made a complaint which initially led to the winger being banned for 12 months.
After giving new evidence to the hearing yesterday, Williams had his 12-month ban reduced to four while a charge against club doctor Wendy Chapman was dismissed.
Leinster are satisfied with the new punishments and a source close to the Irish side said: “Harlequins have been dealt with fairly and we believe they have suffered enough sanctions.”
Bull Fighting
Many supporters of bullfighting regard it as a deeply ingrained, integral part of their national cultures. The aesthetic of bullfighting is based on the interaction of the man and the bull. Rather than a competitive sport, the bullfight is more of a ritual which is judged byaficionados (bullfighting fans) based on artistic impression and command. Ernest Hemingway said of it in his 1932 non-fiction bookDeath in the Afternoon: "Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter's honour." Bullfighting is seen as a symbol of Spanish culture.
The bullfight is above all about the demonstration of style, technique and courage by its participants. While there is usually no doubt about the outcome, the bull is not viewed as a sacrificial victim — it is instead seen by the audience as a worthy adversary, deserving of respect in its own right. Bulls learn fast and their capacity to do so should never be underestimated. Indeed, a bullfight may be viewed as a race against time for the matador, who must display his bullfighting skills before the animal learns what is going on and begins to thrust its horns at something other than the cape. A hapless matador may find himself being pelted with seat cushions as he makes his exit.
However, bullfighting is criticized by many people, including but not limited to animal rights activists, referring to it as a cruel or barbaric blood sport, in which the bull suffers severe stress and a slow, torturous death. A number of animal rights or animal welfare activist groups undertake anti-bullfighting actions in Spain and other countries. In Spanish, opposition to bullfighting is referred to as antitaurina. However, some commentators have called into question how much worse the welfare of the bull is across its life as compared to the lives and death of meat cattle in commercial farming.
Bullfighting is banned in many countries; people taking part in such activity would be liable for terms of imprisonment for animal cruelty. "Bloodless" variations, though, are permitted and have attracted a following in California, and France. In Spain, national laws against cruelty to animals have abolished most blood sports, but specifically exempt bullfighting. Over time, Spanish regulations have reduced the goriness of the fight, but only for the matadors and the horses, introducing the padding for picadors' horses and mandating full-fledged operating rooms in the premises.
The sword that scored on its own
Boris Onischenko, an army officer from Ukraine, entered the 1976 Olympics in Montreal a respected modern pentathlete who had won a silver medal in Munich four years earlier. He exited the Games in disgrace, with banner headlines around the world denouncing him as 'Disonischenko' and 'Boris the Cheat'.
Modern pentathlon is a five-discipline event that includes fencing, but Onischenko's épée was not the innocent weapon of competition it appeared. He had wired his sword so that he could trigger the eletronic scoring system with his hand and register a hit at will.
The British team, who were to win the gold medal, were the first to suspect that Onischenko was up to something during his bout against Adrian Parker. When Jim Fox, Onischenko's next opponent, protested vehemently that his opponent was managing to score without hitting him, officials took away the Soviet athlete's sword. He continued with a replacement weapon, but soon afterwards news came through that he had been disqualified. Stories that he was later banished to the Siberian salt mines were probably exaggerated. The rules of the sport were changed, though, banning grips that could hide wires or switches.
I didn't cheat, why would I cheat?
If the news for Denis Lynch in Hong Kong on Thursday was shattering, it wasn't much better back in his native Tipperary on Friday.
The newspaper headlines were rough, reporters were besieging the family home and his parents had had a sleepless night.
His horse, Lantinus -- ranked number one in the world -- had tested positive for a banned substance, he'd been suspended from the Olympics just hours before the showjumping final and his reputation as an honest sportsman had been tarnished.
Aggrieved by the media coverage and distressed for his family, Lynch, in the early hours of Saturday morning Hong Kong time, spoke by phone from his hotel bedroom to the Sunday Independent in a bid to set the record straight.
"I didn't cheat," he said, "and I've no reason to cheat. I'm on the best horse in the world, why would I cheat? I've won four five-star Grands Prix (this year), I'm in the top 20 in the world, I know what I've done all year and I did nothing different (for the Olympics)."
Lantinus has been tested 12 times this year and Lynch voluntarily submitted the horse again for testing after the 10-year-old gelding arrived in Hong Kong for the Games, "to make sure the horse was clean".
This was his 11th test, the result was negative. The 12th was taken after the second round of jumping last Sunday. At about 2.15pm on Thursday Lynch was informed by the showjumping team manager Robert SplaineRobert that this test had produced a positive result.
They met with officials and veterinarians from the international equestrian federation, the FEI, who told them that traces of a substance called capsaicin had been found in the animal's sample. It had been found in three other horses which were also banned from competing in the final.
At a subsequent press conference senior FEI officials said capsaicin was a prohibited substance because its pain-relieving properties were potentially performance-enhancing. It also had "hypersensitisation" properties: if applied to a horse's shins it could inflame them, thereby inducing the animal to jump higher to avoid painful contact with a fence -- a practice known as 'chemical rapping'.
Paul Farrington, a vet with the FEI, said capsaicin had always been banned but only recently had a test been developed to detect it.
But Lynch claims that "the FEI moved the goalposts" for the Beijing Games. "How can a horse test negative all year and then test positive when I've changed nothing? That's the question. I didn't change anything, I did nothing different (for the Games), why change anything when I was doing the same thing all year and winning?"
The substance is contained in an ointment sold commercially as Equi-Block. "I've been using this product for eight years," said Lynch. "And a lot of international riders have been using the product for the last eight years, over half of them I would say. You can buy it from every vet, in every tack shop, at shows all over the world. It does not make a lame horse sound, it does not make a horse jump higher. It's a cream that we rub on a horse's back to warm him up and make him loose."
Lynch said he was the only one of the four suspended riders who spoke to the media after the story broke. During his press conference he produced a tub of Equi-Block. The label on the product has a specially highlighted piece of information: 'Contains CAPSAICIN. Will not test positive'. Did this not trigger alarm bells for Lynch?
"But everyone's been using it! Fifteen horses were tested and four were positive. If 40 horses were tested then 14 would have tested positive and what would have happened then? If you use it (Equi-Block) over eight years and I've been tested and tested and tested, why would you think it was a doping product? It's not about cheating, it's got nothing to do with cheating."
But shouldn't he have checked out what sort of substance capsaicin was, given that it was linked with the words 'positive' and 'test' on the label of the product? "Do you know how much (capsaicin) is in the cream? Well I don't either. And yesterday (Thursday) the FEI couldn't tell me how much of the substance was in the sample. They couldn't say how long he (Lantinus) was positive: was it two days in his system, was it two hours in his system? They couldn't tell me anything."
He also rejected any suggestion that he was engaged in chemical rapping. "Jesus I don't have a clue about it. I've used it on horses' backs, that's it. There's no ifs and buts anymore. That's all. I've got nothing to do with it, I know nothing about it, I never want to have anything to do with it."
On Thursday evening while the final was underway, Lynch returned to his hotel and "closed the door". He didn't watch the final on television, he was in a state of shock. On Friday morning he woke up to headlines that humiliated him and news from home that upset him further.
"My mum called me and said reporters were there tormenting them. She hasn't slept, my father hasn't slept. They're getting hammered by the media. It's sickening. Sickening. I've got fantastic support from my family, my friends, my sponsors, people in Tipperary and from all around the country. And then to be slaughtered like that -- it's wrong."
Lynch, 32, and his horse jumped three rounds in Beijing. The first two were clear bar time penalties and in the third he faulted only at the water jump. The combination was in superb form and on course for a high finish in the final.
"I belonged in the ring that day. That was my dream. I worked 15 years to get there. I didn't go to the Olympics hoping to come 17th or 24th or whatever. I went there with a realistic chance of a medal. And then to be shot down like this . . ."
He knows he will be suspended from competition for a period of time. "But whatever (sanction) they give me will be nothing compared to this. To have everything taken away from you -- the biggest thing you could ever do in this sport is to represent your country at the Olympics and to have it taken away from you like that is a total shock."
Yesterday morning Lynch left Hong Kong for Germany where he lives with his partner Simona and their four-year-old daughter. He will return to Tipperary town "to thank the people for their support before the Olympics and especially for their support now. And afterwards life has got to move on."
But he left Hong Kong behind him with a world of regrets. He admits to being stunned and incredibly disappointed. "I went out there on a mission: to win a gold medal, or a medal of some sort, and that was it. Nothing else.
"And up to a quarter past two yesterday, everything was perfect."
The newspaper headlines were rough, reporters were besieging the family home and his parents had had a sleepless night.
His horse, Lantinus -- ranked number one in the world -- had tested positive for a banned substance, he'd been suspended from the Olympics just hours before the showjumping final and his reputation as an honest sportsman had been tarnished.
Aggrieved by the media coverage and distressed for his family, Lynch, in the early hours of Saturday morning Hong Kong time, spoke by phone from his hotel bedroom to the Sunday Independent in a bid to set the record straight.
"I didn't cheat," he said, "and I've no reason to cheat. I'm on the best horse in the world, why would I cheat? I've won four five-star Grands Prix (this year), I'm in the top 20 in the world, I know what I've done all year and I did nothing different (for the Olympics)."
Lantinus has been tested 12 times this year and Lynch voluntarily submitted the horse again for testing after the 10-year-old gelding arrived in Hong Kong for the Games, "to make sure the horse was clean".
This was his 11th test, the result was negative. The 12th was taken after the second round of jumping last Sunday. At about 2.15pm on Thursday Lynch was informed by the showjumping team manager Robert SplaineRobert that this test had produced a positive result.
They met with officials and veterinarians from the international equestrian federation, the FEI, who told them that traces of a substance called capsaicin had been found in the animal's sample. It had been found in three other horses which were also banned from competing in the final.
At a subsequent press conference senior FEI officials said capsaicin was a prohibited substance because its pain-relieving properties were potentially performance-enhancing. It also had "hypersensitisation" properties: if applied to a horse's shins it could inflame them, thereby inducing the animal to jump higher to avoid painful contact with a fence -- a practice known as 'chemical rapping'.
Paul Farrington, a vet with the FEI, said capsaicin had always been banned but only recently had a test been developed to detect it.
But Lynch claims that "the FEI moved the goalposts" for the Beijing Games. "How can a horse test negative all year and then test positive when I've changed nothing? That's the question. I didn't change anything, I did nothing different (for the Games), why change anything when I was doing the same thing all year and winning?"
The substance is contained in an ointment sold commercially as Equi-Block. "I've been using this product for eight years," said Lynch. "And a lot of international riders have been using the product for the last eight years, over half of them I would say. You can buy it from every vet, in every tack shop, at shows all over the world. It does not make a lame horse sound, it does not make a horse jump higher. It's a cream that we rub on a horse's back to warm him up and make him loose."
Lynch said he was the only one of the four suspended riders who spoke to the media after the story broke. During his press conference he produced a tub of Equi-Block. The label on the product has a specially highlighted piece of information: 'Contains CAPSAICIN. Will not test positive'. Did this not trigger alarm bells for Lynch?
"But everyone's been using it! Fifteen horses were tested and four were positive. If 40 horses were tested then 14 would have tested positive and what would have happened then? If you use it (Equi-Block) over eight years and I've been tested and tested and tested, why would you think it was a doping product? It's not about cheating, it's got nothing to do with cheating."
But shouldn't he have checked out what sort of substance capsaicin was, given that it was linked with the words 'positive' and 'test' on the label of the product? "Do you know how much (capsaicin) is in the cream? Well I don't either. And yesterday (Thursday) the FEI couldn't tell me how much of the substance was in the sample. They couldn't say how long he (Lantinus) was positive: was it two days in his system, was it two hours in his system? They couldn't tell me anything."
He also rejected any suggestion that he was engaged in chemical rapping. "Jesus I don't have a clue about it. I've used it on horses' backs, that's it. There's no ifs and buts anymore. That's all. I've got nothing to do with it, I know nothing about it, I never want to have anything to do with it."
On Thursday evening while the final was underway, Lynch returned to his hotel and "closed the door". He didn't watch the final on television, he was in a state of shock. On Friday morning he woke up to headlines that humiliated him and news from home that upset him further.
"My mum called me and said reporters were there tormenting them. She hasn't slept, my father hasn't slept. They're getting hammered by the media. It's sickening. Sickening. I've got fantastic support from my family, my friends, my sponsors, people in Tipperary and from all around the country. And then to be slaughtered like that -- it's wrong."
Lynch, 32, and his horse jumped three rounds in Beijing. The first two were clear bar time penalties and in the third he faulted only at the water jump. The combination was in superb form and on course for a high finish in the final.
"I belonged in the ring that day. That was my dream. I worked 15 years to get there. I didn't go to the Olympics hoping to come 17th or 24th or whatever. I went there with a realistic chance of a medal. And then to be shot down like this . . ."
He knows he will be suspended from competition for a period of time. "But whatever (sanction) they give me will be nothing compared to this. To have everything taken away from you -- the biggest thing you could ever do in this sport is to represent your country at the Olympics and to have it taken away from you like that is a total shock."
Yesterday morning Lynch left Hong Kong for Germany where he lives with his partner Simona and their four-year-old daughter. He will return to Tipperary town "to thank the people for their support before the Olympics and especially for their support now. And afterwards life has got to move on."
But he left Hong Kong behind him with a world of regrets. He admits to being stunned and incredibly disappointed. "I went out there on a mission: to win a gold medal, or a medal of some sort, and that was it. Nothing else.
"And up to a quarter past two yesterday, everything was perfect."
I'm sorry but no regrets - Zidane
Zinedine Zidane has apologised for his headbutt on Italian defender Marco Materazzi in Sunday's World Cup final.
But the French legend does not regret his actions, alleging on television that Materazzi provoked him by insulting both his mother and sister.
"It was inexcusable. I apologise," said the 34-year-old Zidane. "But I can't regret what I did because it would mean that he was right to say all that."
Materazzi responded by denying he said anything about Zidane's mother.
"I didn't mention anything about religion, politics or racism," said the Italian on Wednesday.
"I didn't insult his mother. I lost my mother when I was 15 years old and still get emotional when I talk about it.
"Naturally, I didn't know that his mother was in hospital but I wish her all the best.
"Zidane is my hero and I have always admired him a lot."
Zidane was sent off for headbutting Materazzi in the chest in the second period of extra-time in the final in Berlin.
The Frenchman claimed he had been provoked by the Italian and appeared on French TV station Canal Plus on Wednesday to explain his actions.
"It was seen by two or three billion people on television and millions and millions of children were watching," he said.
"It was an inexcusable gesture and to them, and the people in education whose job it is to show children what they should and shouldn't do, I want to apologise."
Asked what had caused to react so violently, he said Materazzi had directed some "very hard words" at him.
"You hear them once and you try to move away. But then you hear them twice, and then a third time," said Zidane.
"I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that."
Zidane, who retired from football after Sunday's final, also called for Materazzi to be punished for his part in the incident.
"We always talk about the reaction, and obviously it must be punished. But if there is no provocation, there is no need to react," said the former Real Madrid and Juventus player.
"Above all it was a very serious provocation. It was an inexcusable gesture but the real culprit is the person who provoked it.
"Do you imagine that in a World Cup final like that with just 10 minutes to go to the end of my career, I am going to do something like that because it gives me pleasure?"
Since the incident, rumours have run rife about what Materazzi said to get such a reaction from the Frenchman.
There were claims the Italian had called Zidane a "terrorist", but in Tuesday's edition of the Italian newspaper La Gazetta dello Sport, Materazzi said: "It was the kind of insult you will hear dozens of times and just slips out on the field.
"I didn't call Zidane a terrorist and certainly didn't mention his mother. I did not bring up Zidane's mother; for me a mother is sacred."
Zinedine Zidane's last professional game ended with a red cardZidane, who was born and grew up in Marseille, is the son of Algerian immigrants and has suffered taunts about his heritage throughout his football career.
The two players initially clashed in the Italian penalty area before words were exchanged.
Materazzi said: "I held his shirt, for only a few seconds. He turned towards me and scoffed at me, looking at me with super arrogance, up and down.
"He said 'if you really want my shirt, you can have it later'. It's true, I shot back with an insult."
Fifa is to investigate Zidane's sending-off and president Sepp Blatter has hinted the France star could be stripped of the Golden Ball award he won after being voted the best player in the World Cup by journalists.
Zidane said he planned to defend himself in the Fifa investigation into his sending off.
He also confirmed that he would not go back on his decision to quit the game.
"This is a decision I have made and I will not go back on it," he said. "This is definite. I will not play again."
But the French legend does not regret his actions, alleging on television that Materazzi provoked him by insulting both his mother and sister.
"It was inexcusable. I apologise," said the 34-year-old Zidane. "But I can't regret what I did because it would mean that he was right to say all that."
Materazzi responded by denying he said anything about Zidane's mother.
"I didn't mention anything about religion, politics or racism," said the Italian on Wednesday.
"I didn't insult his mother. I lost my mother when I was 15 years old and still get emotional when I talk about it.
"Naturally, I didn't know that his mother was in hospital but I wish her all the best.
"Zidane is my hero and I have always admired him a lot."
Zidane was sent off for headbutting Materazzi in the chest in the second period of extra-time in the final in Berlin.
The Frenchman claimed he had been provoked by the Italian and appeared on French TV station Canal Plus on Wednesday to explain his actions.
"It was seen by two or three billion people on television and millions and millions of children were watching," he said.
"It was an inexcusable gesture and to them, and the people in education whose job it is to show children what they should and shouldn't do, I want to apologise."
Asked what had caused to react so violently, he said Materazzi had directed some "very hard words" at him.
"You hear them once and you try to move away. But then you hear them twice, and then a third time," said Zidane.
"I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that."
Zidane, who retired from football after Sunday's final, also called for Materazzi to be punished for his part in the incident.
"We always talk about the reaction, and obviously it must be punished. But if there is no provocation, there is no need to react," said the former Real Madrid and Juventus player.
"Above all it was a very serious provocation. It was an inexcusable gesture but the real culprit is the person who provoked it.
"Do you imagine that in a World Cup final like that with just 10 minutes to go to the end of my career, I am going to do something like that because it gives me pleasure?"
Since the incident, rumours have run rife about what Materazzi said to get such a reaction from the Frenchman.
There were claims the Italian had called Zidane a "terrorist", but in Tuesday's edition of the Italian newspaper La Gazetta dello Sport, Materazzi said: "It was the kind of insult you will hear dozens of times and just slips out on the field.
"I didn't call Zidane a terrorist and certainly didn't mention his mother. I did not bring up Zidane's mother; for me a mother is sacred."
Zinedine Zidane's last professional game ended with a red cardZidane, who was born and grew up in Marseille, is the son of Algerian immigrants and has suffered taunts about his heritage throughout his football career.
The two players initially clashed in the Italian penalty area before words were exchanged.
Materazzi said: "I held his shirt, for only a few seconds. He turned towards me and scoffed at me, looking at me with super arrogance, up and down.
"He said 'if you really want my shirt, you can have it later'. It's true, I shot back with an insult."
Fifa is to investigate Zidane's sending-off and president Sepp Blatter has hinted the France star could be stripped of the Golden Ball award he won after being voted the best player in the World Cup by journalists.
Zidane said he planned to defend himself in the Fifa investigation into his sending off.
He also confirmed that he would not go back on his decision to quit the game.
"This is a decision I have made and I will not go back on it," he said. "This is definite. I will not play again."
Tour de France scandals show cheating is easy
After 3,550 kilometers, 23 days and immeasurable moments of exhaustion, the best cyclists in the world will pedal down the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Sunday to finish the Tour de France, the prestigious race that was sullied again last week by doping problems, a year after the 2006 champion, Floyd Landis, tested positive for a banned substance.
Three top riders were kicked out of the Tour this year because of failed drug tests or suspicions of avoiding anti-doping officials. Those transgressions may seem puzzling, considering they were brought to light at cycling's most scrutinized event, where both urine and blood are screened for performance-enhancing drugs. The cheaters have not been scared off.
"Most athletes think they are invincible," said Joe Papp, 32, a former professional cyclist who tested positive for synthetic testosterone and is serving a two-year ban. "Most cyclists who dope think that they won't get caught. In most cases, they are right."
The riders who dope are taking a calculated risk, and the odds may be in their favor. Only the race leader, the stage winner and two or three riders selected at random are tested every stage of the Tour, leaving most of the field of about 200 untested.
Some riders who dope may use small doses of drugs, like testosterone and the oxygen-boosting EPO, taking quantities that do not exceed the maximum allowed but hover just below the cut-off so they can slip past the drug testers.
Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard University, said the recent failed drug tests should lead one to believe that there is much more cheating in cycling than is known. The cyclists must know something that the general public does not: that more riders - perhaps many more - are able to avoid detection than are caught.
"These guys may be able to get jobs as economists," he said. "They may be thinking very logically about their decisions."
In 1998, the entire Festina team was ejected from the Tour after doping supplies were found in a team vehicle, but drugs have remained in the sport.
Tyler Hamilton tested positive for a blood transfusion in 2002, the same year he won an Olympic gold medal. This year, Alexander Vinokourov, one of the race favorites, tested positive for the same infraction. Last year, Landis was found to have synthetic testosterone in a urine sample, the same violation Cristian Moreni was cited for at the Tour.
"They may be immoral, but they are not necessarily stupid," Gilbert said. "Why would they put everything on the line for such a small possibility that they would get away with this? Well, who said the possibility was small? It might not be small at all."
Doping in cycling has evolved from simple methods, like using alcohol or amphetamines on a tough ride, to more innovative ways of enhancing performance, like the use of bovine hemoglobin - a derivative of cow's blood - which would give the rider more oxygen for taxing stages of a race.
In some cases, using performance-enhancing drugs goes unpunished, even in this era of heightened testing, said Donald Catlin, former head of the Olympic anti-doping laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. At the Tour, riders are not tested enough - or at all, he said. They are given advance notice of testing, allowing them time to prepare their bodies to pass those tests by using techniques like saline drips to thin their blood.
"They have a very active underground that helps them figure these things out," Catlin said Friday at his new anti-doping research facility near Los Angeles. "But they don't know all the answers.
"Sometimes things go desperately wrong, like they in the Landis case. Sometimes they get caught."
To outsiders, the drug testing at the Tour may seem unbeatable, but to some the tests are laughably easy to circumvent.
Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said last week by telephone that cycling was at a breaking point and should enlist the help of governments and law enforcement to catch those athletes who continue to cheat. He called the Tour "the annual disappointment."
Greg LeMond, a three-time winner of the Tour de France, said that the drug testing needs to be plucked from the hands of the International Cycling Union and given to outside agencies to ensure stricter testing and prevent manipulation of the results.
Right now, he said, riders use drugs because they feel that they cannot win without them, considering the competition is most likely using them, too.
"Nobody trusts the system," LeMond said last week by telephone. "What they need to be assured is that there are no loopholes."
There is also little incentive for riders to admit having used performance-enhancing drugs because they can be suspended after the fact and are, at the very least, ostracized from the cycling community for revealing drug use.
Papp, who has been out of the sport for a year, said he received hate mail and threatening phone calls after he testified in May about the testosterone use in cycling at an arbitration hearing involving Landis and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. But Papp knew he would be a target.
"When a rider tests positive, it's like Stalinist Russia," he said. "You are taken off the Web site, your paycheck stops coming, the team just washes its hands of you. The team goes on, and there is no motivation, outside their own morality and ethics, to stamp out doping. But they still expect you to keep quiet about everything."
The cycling culture is such that athletes are brainwashed into believing that doping is acceptable, and even necessary, Papp said. He likened it to "being in the mob."
Three top riders were kicked out of the Tour this year because of failed drug tests or suspicions of avoiding anti-doping officials. Those transgressions may seem puzzling, considering they were brought to light at cycling's most scrutinized event, where both urine and blood are screened for performance-enhancing drugs. The cheaters have not been scared off.
"Most athletes think they are invincible," said Joe Papp, 32, a former professional cyclist who tested positive for synthetic testosterone and is serving a two-year ban. "Most cyclists who dope think that they won't get caught. In most cases, they are right."
The riders who dope are taking a calculated risk, and the odds may be in their favor. Only the race leader, the stage winner and two or three riders selected at random are tested every stage of the Tour, leaving most of the field of about 200 untested.
Some riders who dope may use small doses of drugs, like testosterone and the oxygen-boosting EPO, taking quantities that do not exceed the maximum allowed but hover just below the cut-off so they can slip past the drug testers.
Daniel Gilbert, a psychology professor at Harvard University, said the recent failed drug tests should lead one to believe that there is much more cheating in cycling than is known. The cyclists must know something that the general public does not: that more riders - perhaps many more - are able to avoid detection than are caught.
"These guys may be able to get jobs as economists," he said. "They may be thinking very logically about their decisions."
In 1998, the entire Festina team was ejected from the Tour after doping supplies were found in a team vehicle, but drugs have remained in the sport.
Tyler Hamilton tested positive for a blood transfusion in 2002, the same year he won an Olympic gold medal. This year, Alexander Vinokourov, one of the race favorites, tested positive for the same infraction. Last year, Landis was found to have synthetic testosterone in a urine sample, the same violation Cristian Moreni was cited for at the Tour.
"They may be immoral, but they are not necessarily stupid," Gilbert said. "Why would they put everything on the line for such a small possibility that they would get away with this? Well, who said the possibility was small? It might not be small at all."
Doping in cycling has evolved from simple methods, like using alcohol or amphetamines on a tough ride, to more innovative ways of enhancing performance, like the use of bovine hemoglobin - a derivative of cow's blood - which would give the rider more oxygen for taxing stages of a race.
In some cases, using performance-enhancing drugs goes unpunished, even in this era of heightened testing, said Donald Catlin, former head of the Olympic anti-doping laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. At the Tour, riders are not tested enough - or at all, he said. They are given advance notice of testing, allowing them time to prepare their bodies to pass those tests by using techniques like saline drips to thin their blood.
"They have a very active underground that helps them figure these things out," Catlin said Friday at his new anti-doping research facility near Los Angeles. "But they don't know all the answers.
"Sometimes things go desperately wrong, like they in the Landis case. Sometimes they get caught."
To outsiders, the drug testing at the Tour may seem unbeatable, but to some the tests are laughably easy to circumvent.
Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said last week by telephone that cycling was at a breaking point and should enlist the help of governments and law enforcement to catch those athletes who continue to cheat. He called the Tour "the annual disappointment."
Greg LeMond, a three-time winner of the Tour de France, said that the drug testing needs to be plucked from the hands of the International Cycling Union and given to outside agencies to ensure stricter testing and prevent manipulation of the results.
Right now, he said, riders use drugs because they feel that they cannot win without them, considering the competition is most likely using them, too.
"Nobody trusts the system," LeMond said last week by telephone. "What they need to be assured is that there are no loopholes."
There is also little incentive for riders to admit having used performance-enhancing drugs because they can be suspended after the fact and are, at the very least, ostracized from the cycling community for revealing drug use.
Papp, who has been out of the sport for a year, said he received hate mail and threatening phone calls after he testified in May about the testosterone use in cycling at an arbitration hearing involving Landis and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. But Papp knew he would be a target.
"When a rider tests positive, it's like Stalinist Russia," he said. "You are taken off the Web site, your paycheck stops coming, the team just washes its hands of you. The team goes on, and there is no motivation, outside their own morality and ethics, to stamp out doping. But they still expect you to keep quiet about everything."
The cycling culture is such that athletes are brainwashed into believing that doping is acceptable, and even necessary, Papp said. He likened it to "being in the mob."
Are Three Olympic Gymnasts Products of China's Culture of Cheating?
We should not be surprised to hear that three of China's women gymnasts are not actually old enough to be participating in the 2008 Olympics. After all, the Chinese are good at cheating and they will tell you so unabashedly. Some months ago, Robert Vance(editor at TeachAbroadChina.com) wrote an article entitled Cheating in China — It's an Epidemic in which he explained how cheating is viewed as a way to survive in China. He has had dozens of Chinese students and adults alike tell him that they have cheated often and that they will cheat again if it means that they could 'get ahead' in life. Quite simply, cheating is a part of the culture here and this fact has been confirmed by many of his Chinese students and friends.
Only the Chinese themselves could possibly believe that the three gymnasts in question, Yang Yilin, He Kexin, and Jian Yuyuan, are sixteen years of age. There is a growing mountain of evidence from archived Chinese newspaper articles as well as local competition records, that these girls were not eligible to compete this year. Combining this evidence with the fact that these girls simply look far too young, there is little doubt in his mind that the Chinese women's gymnastics team should not have been given a gold medal on Thursday.
If it is proven that these girls were in fact too young to participate in the 2008 Olympics, he holds the Chinese government and the IOC directly responsible for this deception. The Chinese government issues passports to its citizens. Someone in the government purposely 'overlooked' or simply 'changed' certain information to make sure that the passports displayed ages that would make the girls eligible for the Games. The IOC should have known better than to accept passports as the only means of verifying athletes' ages. In a country like China, where few see anything immoral or unethical about cheating, such a policy by the IOC was basically inviting China to try to pull something off like this.
"America is making this up," a Chinese friend told me today. "Of course the girls were old enough to compete. People always criticise the gold medal winners." Do they? He did not hear or read about anyone criticizing Chinese athlete Yang Wei yesterday after he dramatically won the gold medal in men's gymnastics. The fact is, the whole world recognizes that this has been a great week for Team China. Nevertheless, cheating is cheating and China should not be given a free pass just because this is its first time to host the Olympic Games.
Even when they are faced with evidence of cheating from their own media, the Chinese people will undoubtedly accuse America and the rest of the world of trying to sabotage their precious Olympic Games. So what? The IOC, which has so far been silent on the issue, needs to 'step up to the plate' and begin investigating this matter immediately. If the IOC does not live up to its responsibilities, then it may very well be allowing China to sabotage the Olympic hopes of other countries.
Renault's Controversy
The Renault Formula One crash controversy is a sporting scandal surrounding the Renault F1 racing team from Formula One. It involves a deliberate crash by Nelson Piquet, Jr. during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, in order to gain a sporting advantage for his Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso.
On 28 September 2008, on the fourteenth lap of the Singapore race, the Renault R28 driven by Piquet crashed into the circuit wall at turn seventeen. This threatened then safety of the other drivers. The other Renault driver, Fernando Alonso, subsequently went on to win the race. Piquet described his crash at the time as a simple mistake.
After being dropped by the Renault team, Piquet alleged that he had been asked by the team to deliberately crash to improve the race situation for Alonso, sparking an investigation of Renault F1 for race fixing by Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the Formula One governing body. After an investigation, Renault F1 were charged with conspiracy.
On 16 September Renault stated that they would not contest the charges, and announced that the team's managing directer, Flavio Briatore, and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, had left the team.
On 21 September it was announced that the Renault F1 team had been handed a disqualification from Formula One, which was suspended for two years pending any further comparable rule infringements. Briatore was suspended from all Formula One events and FIA-sanctioned events indefinitely, whilst Symonds received a five-year ban.
Although the crash was done with the intentions to help a fellow teammate, such selfishness could put other people's lives in danger. Such selfish acts diminishes the value of sportmanship in F1 racing. Piquet breached the International Sporting Code, Article 151c, causingn a crash to the team's advantage.
Marion Jones
Marion Lois Jones is a former world champion American track and field athlete. She won five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia but has since been stripped of every Olympic medal after admitting that she took performance-enhancing drugs. On January 11, 2008, Jones was sentenced to 6 months in jail for lying to federal agents. She began her sentence on March 7, 2008 and was released on September 5, 2008.
In October 2007, Jones admitted she doped, having taken steroids before the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics and acknowledged that she had, in fact, lied when she previously denied steroid use in statements to the press, to various sports agencies, and—most significantly—to two grand juries, one impaneled to investigate the BALCO “designer steroid” ring, and the other impaneled to investigate a check fraud ring involving many of the same parties from the BALCO case.
As a result of these admissions, Jones accepted a two-year suspension from track and field competition, and announced her retirement from track and field on October 5, 2007. The United States Anti-Doping Agency stated that the sanction “also requires disqualification of all her competitive results obtained after September 1, 2000, and forfeiture of all medals, results, points and prizes”. Jones pled guilty to lying to federal agents in the BALCO steroid investigation in the U.S. District Court.
Athletes are seen as role models who portray the many good characteristics a person should hold such as integrity, hard work, determination and sportsmanship. The use of drugs diminishes the value of the spirit of such events and it causes trouble not only to officials but also to participants. Furthermore, athletes should be aware that such big scale event are important and that the doping of drugs will not only affect them personally but also the country he or she is representing.
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