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Caribbean-Latin America

Castro defends athlete who kicked judge in face

2008-08-25

Not a good Olympics for The Worker's Paradise...
HAVANA - Fidel Castro on Monday defended the Cuban taekwondo athlete who kicked a referee in the face at the Beijing Olympics, saying Angel Matos was rightfully indignant over his disqualification from the bronze-medal match.

Taekwondo officials want Matos and his coach banned for life from the sport. But Castro expressed "our total solidarity" for both Matos and his coach Leudis Gonzalez.

Matos was winning 3-2 in the second round when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov, and was disqualified for taking more than his one minute of injury time. Matos angrily questioned the call, pushed a judge and then pushed and kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden, who needed stiches to repair his lip. Matos then spat on the floor and was escorted out.

Taekwondo officials called Matos' behavior an insult to the Olympic vision. Matos' coach countered that the match was fixed and accused the Kazakhs of offering him money. Castro said the alleged bribery attempt gave Matos good reason to expect the judges to treat him unfairly."They had tried to buy his own coach," Castro wrote in his essay published in state media. "He could not contain himself."
That's our story and we're sticking to it, gringos...
Cuba is accustomed to winning golds in boxing, but settled this year for four silver and four bronze medals. Overall, Cuba took home only two golds, down from nine in Athens four years ago. "I saw when the judges blatantly stole fights from two Cuban boxers in the semifinals," Castro wrote. "Our fighters ... had hopes of winning, despite the judges, but it was useless. They were condemned beforehand."
Ya shoulda took care of me, Fidel, I coulda had class! I coulda been a contendah, instead of a bum. Which is what I am...
The ailing, 82-year-old ex-president also noted that defections have taken their toll, blaming "the repugnant mercenary actions" of promoters who lure Cuban boxers off the island with lucrative contracts.
Viva La Revoluc...wait. How much?

And Castro hinted that big changes could be in order for Cuban sports, pledging a serious review of "every discipline, every human and material resource that we dedicate to sport."
Oh-oh. If I was part of the Cuban Olympic team, I'd be rigging up my '59 Buick for amphibious operation...
"Cuba has never bought an athlete or judge," Castro wrote, adding that Cubans need to begin preparing now for London in 2012. "There will be European chauvinism, judge corruption, buying of brawn and brains ... and a strong dose of racism," he predicted.
Oh, yeah. How'd your baseball team make out, Fidel?

Posted by:tu3031

#15 net $300 Billion

Posted by: ed 2008-08-25 21:01

#14 pasterpiece=masterpiece. PIMF...

Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 2008-08-25 20:53

#13 They've aborted themselves into a massive gender imbalance and now have millions of young men who have no hope of finding a wife. The historic outcome of such imbalances is armed aggression.

You're right, Lotp. They've dug themselves into a heck of a hole with that one. Remember this line from that immortal cinematic pasterpiece, "D.C. Cab."

"Women have half the money and all the p***y!"

Actually, it's probably considerably more than half. Pretty important people to have been trying to eliminate...

Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 2008-08-25 20:52

#12 Or the Americans get tired of China and stops sending a net $300/year their way.

Posted by: ed 2008-08-25 20:10

#11 Sherry I think you're right that the Chicoms wanted to leave the impression of a huge disciplined army.

They've aborted themselves into a massive gender imbalance and now have millions of young men who have no hope of finding a wife. The historic outcome of such imbalances is armed aggression.

I think we'll see a Chinese army move into some territory in my lifetime. Unless of course they collapse economically and due to social unrest as a result of being unable to block out information about the outside world entirely.

Posted by: lotp 2008-08-25 20:06

#10 Phew

So that taekwondo guy will only be sent to labor camp a month upon arrival in Cuba.

Btw baseball will no longer be an Olympic sport. Thank God they didn't touch "walking" and synchronized swimming or whatever they call it.

Posted by: European Conservative 2008-08-25 19:50

#9 I think North Korea has thousands-strong syncronized marching done every year at some festival they have. (Ariana or something like that). I've seen websites from a couple of people who 'toured' North Korea mention it.

Posted by: CrazyFool 2008-08-25 19:26

#8 TW -- I understand the marching band stuff -- I did that in high school.

For some reason, there was this foreboding feeling as I watched those first 15 minutes. It was just a feeling....

To me, some of the formations, well, just my thoughts as I watched it. You had to marvel.

My high-school marching band story? Before we went to the all lined up on the same yard-line formation, we marched the blocked formation. I had a problem with left and right! Plus, my shortness is in my legs, they just aren't as long as they need to be!

So, bless Mr. Steele's heart, during a practice session, he placed me at the pivotal, left hand corner of that formation, and told everyone, just turn the way she turns! With the trombones behind my, giving me clues when turning was about to happen!

It worked, I kept the spot! Now about those 8 steps through those 10 yards, that was another story!

It was a small school, only 32 in our grad class -- big reunion this weekend!

Posted by: Sherry 2008-08-25 19:20

#7 think of the North Koreans or the Nazis.

At least the closing didn't have any PLA goose-stepping (or NBC didn't show it). Seeing that in the opening just creeped me out.

Posted by: SteveS 2008-08-25 19:13

#6 Sherry, that kind of thing is just high school marching band formations writ large. I cannot imagine it translating into military ability, else the U.S. is in very good shape, if the trailing daughter's school band is any indication. Anyway, totalitarian dictatorships love group spectacles with mass exercises -- think of the North Koreans or the Nazis.

Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-25 18:51

#5 Oh, and the British float at the end with Jimmy Page and Beckham was just an embarrassment.

Posted by: Scott R 2008-08-25 18:49

#4 Sherry, the precision was maintained even by the little girls, maybe 8 or 10 years old (i.e. the gymnastics team).

Posted by: Scott R 2008-08-25 18:47

#3 Red Dawg, I did watch... my first impression --- they started with hundreds of guys on drums, then over a thousand women walking in... all lit up with lights.

Then, these two enormous drums, with drummers on each side, began coming down from on high.

All of I could think of, "I don't want to go to war with these people."

The women moved into different formations, looked like battalions forming.

I thought, "Are they sending us a message?"

The precision, the masses -- to me, the first part looked like it could have been scenes from an old movie, where 1000's of years ago, preparations for war were beginning.

Then, I thought about that scene in Lord of the Rings (last movie, I think) where by the thousands, the sides line up.

Then, it got really silly --

Just my opinion. I have PIP -- so the Food Network got most of the attention.

Posted by: Sherry 2008-08-25 17:34

#2 swksvolFF,
Would you describe the ending ceremony to us happy cretins who didn't get a chance to watch it, por favor?

>:)

Posted by: Red Dawg 2008-08-25 17:24

#1 Aweful Olympics indeed.

Anyone else out there watch the closing ceremonies? Wife and I watched for about 5 minutes until it became so goofy we couldn't keep the laughter down from waking the baby.

Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-08-25 16:59

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