Wednesday, August 1, 2012

A controversial fight- or the longest second ever!

                                          Heidemann and Shin scoring double hits

The second semifinal match in the women’s individual epee fencing tournament at the London Olympics between the german Britta Heidemann and her korean opponent A Lam Shin has been much discussed over the past two days.

Shin held priority with :01 remaining on the clock in overtime of a tied match, meaning she would earn a berth into the gold medal final when the clock struck zero.
Both fencers took to the piste and registered two straight simultaneous touches without any time running off the clock.
On the third instance, Heidemann registered a clean touch and the clock expired, giving her a berth into the finals.
Confused as to how the clock did not go from :01 to :00 any of the previous instances, Shin's coach ran over to the judge's table.
After 25 minutes of deliberation, the judges awarded the match to Heidemann. After hearing of the decision, Shin remained sitting on the piste with her head in her hands.

(Source: http://www.nbcolympics.com/news-blogs/fencing/controversial-ending-in-second-semifinal-of-womens-epee.html)



You can see the last hits here:



It΄s quite shocking and amazing, I sympathize with the Korean though, the time should have stopped and so Heidemann wouldn't be given extra time.
Nevertheless it reminds of what my coach has told me to fight for every touch...

Guardian's humouristic video of the bout:

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