The Korean women’s handball team lost to Norway in the semi-finals tonight. I won’t pretend to know anything about handball and I paid passing attention to the game, but I’m guessing we’ll be hearing a lot about this over the next few days here in Korea.
With the score tied 28-28 Norway scored a game winning point just as time expired. Initially the Korean team celebrated, thinking the goal didn’t count, but Norway was awarded the point by the referee, a decision then confirmed by a guy who had a potbelly where his neck ought to be. Unfortunately I haven’t found any photos of him to post.
The footage shows the ball was clearly not over the line as the clock hit 30:00. From my perspective it was on the line, but as the announcers said, the ball has to be over the line. It was the wrong call. Several of the members of the Korean team started crying and the coach pleaded with potbelly neck to look at the replay. This went on for a good 15 minutes and I’m not sure when the team finally left.
One of the women shown sobbing (the one crying into a towel for those who saw it) was Kim Cha-youn who hails from the same neighborhood in Busan that my wife is from. In fact, they were good friends through middle school. When they were old enough to enter high school Kim transferred to a special “handball high school.” That kind of thing always kind of shocks me…a handball high school? I realize that as someone who scouts Korean high school baseball programs that barely have a curriculum outside of the game that my surprise makes me a bit of a hypocrite, but I still find it weird.
But I digress…my wife and the girl aren’t in touch. Kim now plays professional handball in Austria for a team called Hypo Niederösterreich.
The team is very good and won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics. There’s even a Korean made film about the team called Forever the Moment (우리 ìƒì• ìµœê³ ì˜ ìˆœê°„). It grossed over $27 million in Korea and can be seen online for free. Kim is one of the team’s better players
I don’t believe video replay is allowed in Olympic handball, but I’m not sure. If it is and the judges refused to look at it, then surely they’re at fault. But if replay is not allowed, and I’m almost certain it isn’t, then it’s a moot point. Happens in sports all the time. It sucks, it decides games, but people have to live with it.
But the team wouldn’t leave the court. The coach stood next to the judges table and some of the players sat down on the court in protest. The Korean announcers were going crazy as the replay was shown again and again. The Korean coach started pointing to the stands, where I’m guessing a group of Koreans were watching the replay on cell phone TVs. But the judges signed their scoresheets and left.
After the Korean soccer team lost a game that included a bad call (the call itself wasn’t the reason Korea lost the game) Korean netizens flooded the homepages of FIFA, the Swiss Embassy in Korea, and the Swiss tourism agency, eventually shutting them down.
Shameful stuff and I wouldn’t be surprised to see something similar happen with this. Hopefully someone will organize some candlelight vigils in Seoul. My guess is U.S. Beef is responsible for this in some way.
20 responses so far ↓
1 Brian // Aug 21, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Yeah, I’m sure the papers will be full of editorials on this injustice tomorrow, which was no doubt intentionally done to rob South Korea because they’re a small country always at the mercy of its larger neighbors, including Japan, which as you know colonized Korea for like 35 years, and that’s why we must fight for Dokdo.
Being good winners and good losers in international competitions are ideas that never really caught on. I remember being shocked at both the anti-Swiss stuff and the flag-planting incident in the US at the WBC. Both were disgusting, IMO.
2 baekgom84 // Aug 21, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Koreans - great people, but terrible, terrible sports. People still get riled up when I mention the WC game against the Swiss, and I don’t even bother trying to explain anymore how the player was technically not in an offside position.
I get the impression that the women’s handball team is one of more popular competitive outfits going around in Korea. That’s bad news for the officials and especially the poor buggers who have to try and keep the website in working order.
3 Shinsano // Aug 22, 2008 at 9:11 am
Being reminded of the Korean team planting the flag on the mound during the WBC makes me want to root against them in the medal round at the Olympics.
I agree with you baekgom, which is why it’s always easy to root both for and against Korea in the Olympics——minute by minute.
4 Simon Currie // Aug 22, 2008 at 9:35 am
The soccer thing seems almost karmic for the good (and lucky) run Korea had in 2002.
Handball, remember how there’s a big row in Asian handball between the middle east (who govern the federation) and the far east and only Korea and Japan took part in the final qualifications? Anyways, a European sport marred by controversy.
5 Akiko // Aug 22, 2008 at 9:36 am
How dare you, you two people on top of me!
Don’t you dare insult Korea like that, You fuckin’ people, I don’t care of I’m Japanese-Korean, I’M STICKING TO KOREA, and Korea is not a bad sport!
Learn about our history and see why!
And, If you really look at our history, Korea was and is being tormented by Japs and Chinese, so you have no right to say ANYTHING!
대~한민êµ!
6 Akiko // Aug 22, 2008 at 9:37 am
Oh, I mean the second and third people!
7 Simon Currie // Aug 22, 2008 at 9:37 am
Strangely, the WBC flag planting thing didn’t upset me much at all. Yeah, it was bad sportsmanship and all, but I could see how emotionally charged the Korean team was. But many Japanese around me were indignant, to the point of overreaction, I thought. But I guess that’s sport, especially a popular one. The semifinals coming up in a couple hours should be intense.
8 John Brooks // Aug 22, 2008 at 10:21 am
If you really look at our history, Korea was and is being tormented by Japs and Chinese, so you have no right to say ANYTHING!
How in the world does this have any damn revelance to the topic in hand? Nowhere has anyone above said anything regarding the occupation of Korea by Japan. It was attacking the immaturity of a few select few people.
It wouldn’t shock me if the same people who organized the U.S. beef protests are organizing the same BS of dDOS attacks against the FIFA website and against Swiss websites.
9 Shinsano // Aug 22, 2008 at 10:24 am
ì§„ì •í•´ 아키꼬씨
10 yhap // Aug 22, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Recently, whenever I see their hysteric attitude against others I feel that they look like a totalitarian like as N.K. It seems that they are seeking an enemy to strength their solidity with yelling “We are justice no matter what happened!!!”. US beef, Dokdo issue, Olympic game…….
A mean spirit of Japan By Chosun Ilbo 2008/Aug/22
http://www.chosunonline.com/article/20080822000008
They are one of the big 3 news paper in Korea as you know.
It says “JP baseball team went into raptures at the news that Korea is next opponent not Cuba.” (I didn’t know that JP team said it until I saw this column.)Then it says at the end “We will shut JP up”
I wonder if they wrote columns and articles depending on Japanese web sites which is a den of anti-Korea????? In my feeling, any decent JP media and peoples are not screaming about it.
As Japanese society was in the mood “Friendly with Korea” these several years, I believed their thoughts against Japan become better than before. (Surprisingly even some of right wing gropes put the word “Friendly with Korea” and both flags on the surface of their black van although it might not be simple reason.) http://yellowpeep.blogspot.com/2006/05/uyoku-obscure-cult.html
However, it seems nothing changed their fundamental mind against JP as far as I saw their persistent and hysteric anti-JP action. Unfortunately I feel that anti-Korea population is little by little increasing in JP recently but it is no wonder. The action to increase anti-Korea population in JP is good tactics for them? It is all greek to me.
11 EW // Aug 22, 2008 at 3:26 pm
What’s with the weird comment about the judge’s weight, as if that’s got anything to do with this? Let’s not play to the “fat people are all stupid and lazy” stereotype, please.
12 EW // Aug 22, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Wait, I take it back. You’re not characterizing him that way. Still seems weird to fixate on it, tho.
13 Shinsano // Aug 22, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Yeah, not characterizing him, but definitely fixated. The potbelly chin just jumped out and seemed funny. He wasn’t really an overweight guy. Just in the chin.
14 Roger Wellor // Aug 22, 2008 at 5:01 pm
EW
Fixate?
I watched that match and I was boggled by the bad call, but once that judge showed up? All I could do was focus on that thing under his chin.
He put obese turkeys to shame with that thing….
15 EW // Aug 22, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Eh, I didn’t see it. I guess it was really something. In any event, I’m not normally one to mock people’s physical appearance, unless it’s something they can control. Jackass wearing wraparound shades? Totally worthy of being mocked. Ugly people? Fat people? Strangely proportioned people? Not as much.
16 Mark Olsen // Aug 23, 2008 at 11:08 am
Maybe what the coach should’ve been upset about is his team thought OT started at 29:55 when the tieing goal was scored. Norway was prepared and well coached and immediately started a fast break type play that allowed the Norweigan player to get a shot off unmolested. They played the full 30 minutes and although they caught a break on the bad call it can be argued they made their luck by hustling. Bottom line, the Korean girls didn’t play the full 30 minutes and paid dearly for it. The coach should be held accountable for that.
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19 JM // Aug 24, 2008 at 11:34 am
i totally agree with mark olsen…. well put sir… i only got the chance to watch a replay of the game (one of hundreds shown that day) and it didn’t give a slow-mo replay of the final seconds… regardless of that, it did seem like the korean team let-up with 5 seconds to go… the goalie merely tried to stick a foot to stop the shot when she should have played right through 30 mins…. also, korea was down most of the game, so maybe they should have played better earlier on….
it sucks that it came down to this, but in no way should unfair treatment be labeled as the reason… they simply lost the game, and that’s that…. hey, silver medal is nothing to be ashamed about…. at least all the players are over the age of 16…. (unfair dig???)
20 Shinsano // Aug 24, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Thanks for the perspectives guys. I doubt many of our readers follow handball, but it’s nice to have some experts give the whole picture. I only tuned in toward the very end.
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