The Olympic Syndrome

Since the Olympics started, last Friday, I've been wondering when the media would start in on the Chinese aspect. It appears boxing will be the leader. I just finished watching the last round on CNBC. The commentators were discussing a match between USA's Rau'shee Warren and Korea's Oksung Lee.

The least box-drunk of the two commentators- and one of those sorry saps looked like he had trouble standing up- started the discussion. They both agreed that it could have been a miscommunication with the corner, and that the USA boxing team was having a lot of problems in these games. Scoring was mentioned several times.

What Happened?
Warren and Lee were tied after each of the first three rounds. During the last thirty seconds, while his coaches say they were yelling "Punch!", Warren dodged and evaded. It looked like he thought he had a one point lead, agreed both comentators. The video seemed to agree. It wasn't until the last 5 seconds, or so, that Warren seemed to realese he was down by a point, and started trying to go after Lee. Lee won 9-8.

Maybe this is simply a case of on boxer being better than the other. It's a possibility; but unlikely. Warren won the World Championship last year in Chicago. According to CNBC's website, Warren is the first boxer two-time Olympic boxer since the 1970s. The commentators, though they danced around it, kept coming back to scoring- finally saying it was "a discussion for another [time]."

It's not just a controversy with a couple of commentators. According to CNBC: "Chinese boxer Gu Yu beat [2007 world championship] bronze winner Joe Murray of Great Britain 17-7. The victory avenged Gu's loss to Murray at last year's world championships in Chicago that prevented him from going to the medal round. [...] British coach Terry Edwards criticized the judges following the bout, claiming the 'scores were very generous for China.'"

During the Warren-Lee fight the scoring wasn't just off against the USA. According to the commentators, Warren had a couple of solid punches that weren't scored; but Lee had a solid hit that Warren got the point for. It will be interesting to see how the media covers this once no one is scared the Chinese government will kill their reporters.