世界排名第一的大陸羽球名將于洋與王曉理兩位女士涉嫌打球求敗,被奧林匹克當局取消比賽資格,逐出奧運選手村。
同樣行為的韓國選手與印尼選手也遭到同樣處罰,韓國與印尼提出抗告,而中國大陸迅速接受處罰,並預告比賽結束後將調查處理。
初讀新聞,心情是責備中國教練與選手。
無論賽程如何安排,都應盡力拼搏,是我的想法。
「Grow, where you are planted.」
不論上帝把人種在哪裡,人們都應該努力生長,是我畢生的信念。
但是今天閱讀紐約時報的文章,開始產生另一種思考。
文章作者是SAM BORDEN
,Published: August 2, 2012 New York Times.
文章題目是:The Goal Is Winning Gold, Not Winning Every Match .
文中擲地有聲的說:
「As the British have been so quick to remind us over the past two weeks, fair play and sportsmanship were invented here. But what does that truly mean? Play to win in a meaningless match, only to be rewarded with a more difficult path later on? To some, that defies sporting sensibility; to others, it defies logic.」
中國人缺乏論證能力,凡事總是直接跳進人身攻擊。
西方人有堅強的論證訓練。
以前教學生時,每年都要強調:「你做什麼,並不重要。重要的是,你為什麼要做這個?」,以及「你用什麼方法,並不重要,重要的是,你為什麼要用這個方法?」
有一次,這樣質問學生,他大感意外,回答:「老師,你忘了?是你叫我這樣做的!」
我告訴他,你弄錯了,我是在要求你的論證能力。
SAM BORDEN的這篇文章,發揮充分論證能力。
只有通過堅強論證,才能得到堅強結論。
中國大陸未來在調查處理時,可以參考納入紐約時報這篇文章的觀點,或者,以後,碰到同樣情況時,先將「努力求敗」,提升到「不全力求勝」,再慢慢理出應該遵循的道理。
現在將這篇文章附在下方:
The Goal Is Winning Gold, Not Winning Every Match
Published: August 2, 2012 New York Times
LONDON — Abby Wambach, the veteran forward on the United States women’s soccer team, said the other day that “no one gives you anything for finishing at the top of your group.” And the goal of every Olympic athlete, from Wambach to Usain Bolt to Ann Romney’s horse Rafalca, is to win a medal. The rest is just a journey.
So why the uproar over the tactics used by the four women’s badminton teams that were disqualified for trying to lose their final preliminary-round matches? Where exactly did the badminton players veer off into corruption?
They did not organize the tournament. They did not arrange the draw.
They simply looked at the information that was presented to them, looked at their ultimate goal and went in the direction that seemed to have the best chance of leading them there. A loss in those matches, they decided, would give them a better path to winning a medal. How is this different from, say, a swimmer who coasts to the wall in a preliminary heat or a runner who jogs past the finish line in a semifinal to conserve energy for the final? Is it even that much different from a baseball player bunting?
Derek Jeter is a career .313 hitter. And yet in certain situations, sometimes even important situations in important games, Jeter goes up to the plate with the intention of not getting a hit. If he is successful — that is, if he succeeds at failing — he will be congratulated by his teammates when he returns to the dugout. The rules of baseball and other sports create situations in which a type of failure can be good strategy.
In the badminton case, the teams’ ultimate goal was clear: win a gold medal. And what is one way to help do that? Avoid the best teams for as long as possible. This was not a sacrifice bunt because there was no sacrifice. The teams, after evaluating the tournament setup that was presented to them, saw an opportunity to give up nothing in the hope of gaining something significant. One could argue it would have been silly for them not to seize that opportunity.
It is worth noting, too, that the notion of “always give it your all” or whatever other hoary chestnut you can imagine a hyperactive Little League coach spewing in a pregame huddle is largely Western. As the British have been so quick to remind us over the past two weeks, fair play and sportsmanship were invented here. But what does that truly mean? Play to win in a meaningless match, only to be rewarded with a more difficult path later on?
To some, that defies sporting sensibility; to others, it defies logic.
One can only imagine, too, how the local reaction to this situation might have differed four years ago in Beijing. After all, Sun Tzu taught a more sophisticated approach to combat in “The Art of War,” imploring a big-picture savvy that put a premium on positioning and strategy and an unflinching attachment to remembering the desired end result.
That is what the badminton teams did, and the theory is put to use to varying degrees in every sport. Sometimes it is a football team purposely taking a 5-yard penalty so its punter can have more room to try to land his kick near the end zone. Sometimes it is a cyclist slowing down to help his teammate kick to the finish. Sometimes it is a basketball team playing less talented players to help its chances of receiving a higher draft pick.
On Tuesday in Cardiff, Wales, the Japanese women’s soccer team purposely played for a draw in its final group game, hanging back in the second half and never pushing forward to try to score. This strategy was ordered by the team’s coach, and his reasoning was simple: a draw meant his team would stay put and play its quarterfinal in the same city a few days later. A win meant the Japanese would have to travel to Scotland to play the knockout game.
To that coach, Norio Sasaki, less travel meant a better chance at winning the tournament. To those badminton players, a loss in the final group game meant the same. Fans who complained about having bought tickets to see something like that are not seeing the athletes’ big picture. The competitors’ main obligation is to do what sets them up best to win a medal. They trained to play well, yes, but more important, they trained to win a medal. And Tuesday, losing gave them the best chance to do that. If fans are still angry, they should be angry at the organizers who made the situation possible, not the athletes themselves.
Was it pretty? No, it was not. And no one says fans have to celebrate losing to win. But we should also not be so foolish as to act as if it isn’t sometimes just another part of the game.