Fencing Federation to offer Queen A Lam a 'special medal'

[frantastic.livejournal.com]

Fencing's governing body announced that heartbroken South Korean Shin A Lam will receive 'a special medal' after she felt she was robbed of a proper one in the women's epee on Monday night.

The medal will be for 'aspiration to win and respect for the rules,' said the International Fencing Federation in a statement.

But Shin said: 'It does not make me feel better because it's not an Olympic medal.

'I don't accept the result because I believe it was a mistake.'

Shin was speaking back at the ExCeL Arena, scene of the biggest controversy of the Games so far at the end of her semi-final with Germany's 2008 Olympic champion Britta Heidemann.

The 25-year-old was in floods of tears and stayed on the piste for over an hour while arguments raged about the result, but her defeat stood and she then lost the bronze medal match as well.

Shin thought she was through to the final when the clock went to zero, but Austrian referee Barbara Csar then ruled there was actually still a second left, during which time Heidemann scored.

Korean Olympic Committee president Park Yung-Sung revealed today the FIE had made the offer of a consolation prize and recognised that they had acknowledged that 'you can have human error.'

He added: 'They know they are very sorry about her and they have to recognise her sporting spirit.'

The FIE said they had, as yet, no confirmation of the date or place of the medal award ceremony.

The Korean team's protest was rejected this morning and Park also said: 'They cannot make a new decision after rejecting our appeal, but they are sorry and sympathise with Shin so they want to recognise her in the spirit of the Olympics.'

Shin, who said through an interpreter that she had slept for only about two hours last night, could still win a 'real' medal in the team event on Saturday - and could face Heidemann once more in the final.

Park blamed the timing system for the incident, claiming it was not accurate enough.

'They have never experienced this before with three attacks in the last second. Their timekeeping machine only has seconds, not fractions of a second. It cannot handle a situation like yesterday. That they admit.'

In their written appeal the Korean team had said: 'I can't agree with the decision of the referee. Who can believe this situation? The Korean team cannot accept this situation.'

But an official statement issued in response read: 'It is for the referee to decide how much time remains. The referee confirmed the last hit. Neither the DT (the technical director) nor the refereeing delegations can change a question of fact. The DT decides to reject the protest.'

Meanwhile, Park confirmed that the Korean team had accepted an apology from their Swiss counterparts after footballer Michel Morganella was expelled from the Games for directing an allegedly racist insult at South Koreans on Twitter.

The 23-year-old defender was sent home after posting the message in the wake of his team's 2-1 defeat to South Korea on Sunday. Morganella has also apologised and his Twitter account has been deleted.

source:dailymail
STILL PRESSED ABOUT THIS

Comments

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

are you serious? That's pretty darn silly tbh

[drfaith101.livejournal.com]

I like that she refused it.

[helveticalight.livejournal.com]

Same

[iheartomntd.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have accepted it either. The whole situation is such bs.

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

They have video proof they are wrong, then do overtime damn.
This will and should haunt the DT forever.

[xalexandriam.livejournal.com]

i'm surprised there hasn't been a call for a rematch or at the very least a re-evaluation of something like this.

[ginevragirl.livejournal.com]

It's a pity award. Who the hell would accept that?

[michurusan.livejournal.com]

im still pissed about this. ugh. im glad she refused it.

[thebluemonk.livejournal.com]

what she should do is show up to the 2016 olympics with a broadsword

[falling-empress.livejournal.com]

A+

[falling-empress.livejournal.com]

More like the: got robbed and fucked over by the olympics medal

they can go fuck themselves

[julietislimited.livejournal.com]

this flawless queen was robbed.
ugh.

[bubblyshades.livejournal.com]

Oh please. This is such a pity award. "Aspiration to win and respect for the rules"? That's like rubbing salt in her wounds.

So much respect to her for standing her ground.

[frantastic.livejournal.com]

that's a great gif

[windygables.livejournal.com]

Glad that she didn't accept that Plushenko-esque award.

[shanny-w.livejournal.com]

it's not silver medals it's platinum!

[aleexnews.livejournal.com]

"SPECIAL MEDAL"? REALLY? this is so dumb.

judges had to take 2secs to watch a ONE SECOND REPLAY that clearly showed Shin hadn't lost, why the hale didn't they do that? wtf is so hard about watching a replay like it literally was gonna take them 2 seconds and they would have saved themselves all that time that was lost with the appeal and Shin crying, but most importantly she wouldn't have lost. unfair as fuck, this is why i hated basketball so much when i used to play, the unfair calls refs called made me furious and then you get called for getting mad lol its ridic

good for her for not accepting it though, i wouldn't either.

[aleexnews.livejournal.com]

oh and BBC can fuck themselves. the tweet they made when this happened

"Shin A Lam is beaten in the bronze medal match of the women's individual epee by China's Sun Yujie. Lost, protested. Lost again."

fucking assholes

[hellicoptajuuce.livejournal.com]

well if it's the clocks fault get a fucking update or a new sponsor ffs

[shanny-w.livejournal.com]

did you see the look on big ben's face? that clock is such an amateur. prob got paid off tbh.

[ari-meh.livejournal.com]

they should stick that booby prize up their asses. couldn't even come up with a proper apology, could they?

[uglypricetag.livejournal.com]

that is fucking condescending

[katzsong.livejournal.com]

I hope she and the team won't accept the medal. That is really an insult. Sorry FIE, your pathetic sympathy is not enough. If you're sorry enough, you would arrange for a re-match. Nothing else.

[shanny-w.livejournal.com]

lol no. this kinda reminds me of the participation ribbons we used to get in elementary.

[k0dama.livejournal.com]

her situation makes me feel so sad.

attending the Olympics isn't an everyday event.

This could even be her last time attending the Olympics.

It's pretty messed up that the judges can't accept that they made an error.

[http://users.livejournal.com/reminisce__/]

I've heard of translators working as volunteers, but never a timekeeper? That's really amateur - unless you have Beijing 2008 style volunteers, that should not be done. But London 2012 looks amateur or unprofessional all around...

[runandtelldat.livejournal.com]

Home girl doesn't want your fucking pity medal.

[cagallisakura.livejournal.com]

"South Korean Shin A Lam will receive 'a special medal' after she felt she was robbed of a proper one"
do you mean how she WAS robbed? so full of BS. Good for her though, standing for her rights like a true champion.

[unlickdbearwhlp.livejournal.com]

This is patronizing. It's also a roundabout way of admitting you fucked up. If they truly believed their decision was fair, they'd offer her nothing, and let her move on. This is keeping things fresh.

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Classy girl! I like the way she thinks.

[confuqued.livejournal.com]

How rude!