Comments on: The Olympics Spirit (BADminton edition) http://kenan.ethics.duke.edu/teamkenan/the-olympics-spirit-badminton-edition/ Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:09:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6 By: Chad http://kenan.ethics.duke.edu/teamkenan/the-olympics-spirit-badminton-edition/#comment-99 Chad Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:56:29 +0000 http://www.teamkenan.org/?p=2338#comment-99 Hi Leonard! I completely agree with you that it is not fair at all – and I think that’s something we might just have to deal with, for now. Sports itself is a luxury – something that reflects the resources and free time of a nation. Just basing it on sports I am more familiar with, not all families can afford the luxury of having a “soccer mom” or “soccer dad,” and there are also sports with higher entry costs – such as golf, gymnastics, and equestrian. LIke you said, the podium is certainly exclusive – almost reserved for certain countries. Even in sports that you might not consider to be “expensive,” such as 100 meter dash, it still helps to have world class nutritionists, trainers, coaches, and of course, facilities. I doubt Michael Phelps would win all those medals if he was born in war torn Somalia.

As for badminton, the players were so blatantly bad that it was very not fun to watch after the first two minutes, and that’s why people are so upset (the players really need to work on the art of intentionally losing). I agree with you that the badminton players can do whatever they want as long as it is within the rules. The IOC should really blame itself for creating the system, and not expel the players for trying their best to win gold.

]]> By: Leonard http://kenan.ethics.duke.edu/teamkenan/the-olympics-spirit-badminton-edition/#comment-98 Leonard Fri, 10 Aug 2012 05:45:24 +0000 http://www.teamkenan.org/?p=2338#comment-98 Chad, at least NBC covered something! KBC had zero coverage!!
Talking about the Olympic spirit in general, I believe that spirit is a very inconsiderate spirit at its best. How do you have more than 15 events in swimming alone? Tell me, how many countries in Africa and the developing world in general can afford to built Olympic size swimming pools? Very few! Kenya, for example, has only 2 public Olympic size swimming pools and they are both in Nairobi! How then do you expect Kenyans to participate in such events? How does the Olympic committee justify such injustice? Why doesn’t it try and include more sports that do not require expensive equipment for the sake equity? As far as I can see, the medals in the Olympics are reserved for the countries with the highest per capita income! It is an exclusive event!
Concerning badminton, no rule says that you are not allowed to lose to a weaker team. How do you tell whether someone lost intentionally or not? Even if they did not play to their best, I do not believe that they had an obligation to entertain the fans. The only obligation they had was to win a medal within the confines of the game…

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