SPORTSMANSHIP Ideals, reality clash at Olympic badminton John Leicester Associated press/London In sports, as in life there are those who bend rules, and those who cheat. They've always excited. And because of human frailties and pressure from sponsors, countries, coaches and athletes themselves for medals and trophies, they always will. But bending rules and spitting on them is not the same thing. Olympic ideals of fair play, sportsmanship and all of that are just that — an ideal. But the reality of the Olympic Games is that success is measured in gold, silver and bronze. Be good sportsman if you can but, above all, win and we will give you a shiny medal. And because these are Olympic medals, they will bring fame and perhaps fortune, too. Winning medals changes lives. Being good sports alone rarely do. Sad, perhaps, but true. Between the Olympics ideal and the Olympics reality is a trap that tight badminton players fell into at London 2012. They didn't cheat. Instead, they fried to win — by deliberately trying to lose. They bent the rules to breaking point. But they didn't trample on them like doped sprinter Ben Johnson at the 1988 Seoul Olympics or Fred Lorz in 1904, the New Yorker who hitched a ride by car for much of the Olympics marathon and then ran over the finish line in first place. It's not like a boxer taking a dive or a soccer player scoring in his own goal to get a fat envelope from syndicate. Those are cheats, dammed cheats. The women badminton players from China, South Korea and Indonesia are not. The eight badminton players fell into at London 2012 because they ....

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SPORTSMANSHIP

Ideals, reality clash at Olympic badminton

John Leicester

Associated press/London

In sports, as in life there are those who bend rules, and those who cheat. They've always excited. And because of human frailties and pressure from sponsors, countries, coaches and athletes themselves for medals and trophies, they always will. But bending rules and spitting on them is not the same thing.

Olympic ideals of fair play, sportsmanship and all of that are just that — an ideal. But the reality of the Olympic Games is that success is measured in gold, silver and bronze.

Be good sportsman if you can but, above all, win and we will give you a shiny medal. And because these are Olympic medals, they will bring fame and perhaps fortune, too. Winning medals changes lives. Being good sports alone rarely do. Sad, perhaps, but true.

Between the Olympics ideal and the Olympics reality is a trap that tight badminton players fell into at London 2012.

They didn't cheat. Instead, they fried to win — by deliberately trying to lose. They bent the rules to breaking point. But they didn't trample on them like doped sprinter Ben Johnson at the 1988 Seoul Olympics or Fred Lorz in 1904, the New Yorker who hitched a ride by car for much of the Olympics marathon and then ran over the finish line in first place. It's not like a boxer taking a dive or a soccer player scoring in his own goal to get a fat envelope from syndicate. Those are cheats, dammed cheats. The women badminton players from China, South Korea and Indonesia are not.

The eight badminton players fell into at London 2012 because they ....

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