Olympics

Cuban Taekwondo Olympian Angel Matos Banned for Life After Attacking Officials

Posted Aug 23, 2008 9:15AM By Michael David Smith (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Americas

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The guy on the left in the above photo is Angel Matos of Cuba, a taekwondo Olympian. But the guy he's kicking isn't an opponent, it's a judge.

Matos was declared the loser of the bronze match for taking more than the allotted one minute of injury time after he hurt his leg. He responded by pushing the referee, then attacking the Swedish judge you see in the photo, Chakir Chelbat. He was eventually dragged out, spitting on the floor as he left.

Cuban coach Leudis Gonzalez refused to apologize for Matos' actions and criticized the judge, saying, "He was too strict." The World Taekwondo Federation immediately announced lifetime bans for both Matos and Gonzalez for what it called "a strong violation of the spirit of taekwondo and the Olympics."

Judging in taekwondo has been under scrutiny in these Olympics, as American bronze medalist Steven Lopez said a judge showed "human error" in one of his matches, and China's two-time gold medalist Chen Zhong was initially declared the winner of a match only to have the result overturned.

But any legitimate concerns about the quality of the judging will likely be overlooked, as the lasting image of taekwondo in these Olympics will be Angel Matos kicking Chakir Chelbat.

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