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2012 Summer OlympicsMedia MonsterWeird But True

A South-Korean Fencer Got Screwed By A Clock That Got “Stuck,” And We’re Here To Explain

by Matt Rudnitsky | 8:37 pm, July 30th, 2012

On Monday, the most-controversial result of the Olympics happened. It was in a fencing match, though, so you probably weren’t watching. (We assume you don’t slack off at work with fencing, of all things, but if you do: kudos). And since fencing is confusing (and now veritably dumb, as you’ll see), we’re here to explain.

South Korea’s Shin A-Lam was tied with Germany’s Britta Heidemann at the end of regulation. Per fencing rules, they advance to one minute of extra time. Because fencing is weird, if the two are still tied after that one minute, the winner is declared based on a random distinction granted to one of the fencers, before overtime starts. Basically, the official(s) randomly give one player the advantage, who knows beforehand that if she ties, she wins. The other fencer has to outscore the one with the advantage. A tie is a loss for her. In that event, the victor wins by a “priority ruling.”

But that’s a (quirky) well-known fencing rule, not the actual cause of controversy. With one second remaining, the two were tied. And the clock “got stuck,” which allowed Heidemann a chance to go for the win, which she capitalized on.

To sum up: Shin would’ve won (albeit on the strange overtime tiebreaker) if the clock hadn’t gotten “stuck.” But it did, and Heidemann took advantage.

And the aftermath was BAD. Shin’s coach immediately protested the result, while Shin sat down on the piste (i.e. the fencing playing area) in tears. He officially appealed the judges’ decision, but the appeal took a long time. Apparently, an Olympic rule states that Korean officials had to submit a cash payment, on the spot, in order for the appeal to be valid.

For thirty minutes, Shin remained on the piste, “with an announcer declaring that ‘if the Korean leaves the piste, she accepts the defeat.’ ” However, she was told to leave after a half hour, the decision still unannounced, to the tune of jeers from the crowd. (Ouch).

After all the hubbub, she lost the appeal, and was forced to compete in the bronze-medal match immediately after (the controversial match was the semifinal). She lost and didn’t receive a medal.

There may be no crying in baseball, but baseball is no longer in the Olympics. There is now crying in the Olympics. And as Drew Magary so aptly commented, “This pistes the shit outta me.”

Here’s the video, although it’s really poor quality and it probably won’t help you understand the situation any more. But hey, fencing! Controversy! Olympics!

[Deadspin]



  • Bjhiebert

    i dont know if i had won if i would feel like i earned that medal…not as spectacular if won fairly.  what can the ioc do differently

  • Jot

    She actually left the piste after over one hour to a standing ovation by the crowd who felt the unfairness of the decision. The clock ran down to one second and Heidemann made a final, desperate lightening attack which was unsuccessful. What then ensued was that the final second was restarted twice more. The third time Heidemann’s lunge made contact, but no explanation was offered by the referee as to why the clock was reset to one second twice after the time had apparently run out.

    Shin A Lam stayed on the piste on her own for over an hour while Korea challenged the decision. Eventually Shin’s coach came out and had a word with her and a few minutes later she was rather forcefully led away by officials. The crowd booed and jeered, but they were jeering the officials not Shin.

  • http://blog.oldchinabooks.com/ James Lande

    Actually Matt, Shin A Lam waited on the piste for just a few minutes shy of an hour, and she finally was “escorted” off the piste by two burly officials who took her by her arms and walked her, however gently, off.

  • http://blog.oldchinabooks.com/ James Lande

    Also, there have been conflicting accounts of the sequence of events. Viewers of the actual match saw that after the third period when the fencers were tied 5 to 5, and the following one minute face-off which left the fencers still tied 5 to 5, the referee called for another face-off, this time of one second. The clock was reset from zero to one second. Upon the refereee’s call to start, Heidemann launched a single attack and made a touch. It was this touch that is in contention and the object of the protest that the touch landed after the expiration of one second. Live coverage and YouTube video of the entire match showed clearly the sequence of these events.

  • Kevin

    The crowd cheered for Shin.

  • Anon

    Jot’s comment is more well written and informative than the joke of a writer who authored this ridiculous article.

  • Steve Hwan

    what a scam

  • Anonymous

    This is an absolute disgrace.

    I don’t understand the sport, and I didn’t watch it, so I remain
    with  no detailed explanation as to how clocks can be reset in the way
    it was described – completely bizarre. By everything that was described,
    the referee should be thrown in jail.

    So if your team doesn’t win in a ball game, the referee pretends the
    game over and then allows the team he received money from to score?

    The crowd was there, they know.

    From everything I heard, A-Lam was robbed, and Heidemann should hang her head in shame if she puts the medal around her neck.

  • larynx

     Unfair Olympic by unqualified referee.

  • nuderobot

    So they just KEPT SETTING THE CLOCK BACK until the German scored?  When I hear it like that, it sure sounds suspicious, like somebody got paid to make sure the German won.

  • http://www.facebook.com/noodle.kanoodle Noodle Kanoodle

     i would not be surprised if money was involved beforehand in persuading the referee to make those unfair calls…

  • JPK07452

    Shin A-Lam would have had the medal the first time. Nice she got one the second time. She behaved honorably — and I can’t say the same about the judges or the time-keepr.

  • Jonathan Han

    what’s your point??? If you really watched the footage, you know she got screwed.

  • nosmiley

    The video is now gone, because the IOC owns rights, blah , blah.
    Actually , it’s known as trying to cover your sorry a$$es. Even a poor job at covering.


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