Rio 2016 incident and misuse of sport

Tegshbayar Batsaikhan- Junior World champion  in track cycling

There were few days left until Rio 2016 Games  when Mongolia's cyclist Tegshbayar Batsaikhan became the first World champion in this discipline.  In the final race on July 21st he beat all the top athletes from the leading cycling's countries.  He is 18 now, and  I am sure this junior World champion title will lead him to more triumph. Mongolia was proud of him.

We hoped that his success will bring plenty of luck to our athletes who would represent Mongolia at the Olympics. Unfortunately, it was not the case. Mongolia could win only 2 medals (silver and bronze), sharing the same place (67th) with India. (A total of 78 countries won medals)
In the following Paralympic Games our athletes won so far 2 Bronze.

Mandakhnaran Ganzorig (65kg freestyle wrestling)

In Rio we expected some more medals (gold too!) from our athletes in  disciplines like Judo, freestyle wrestling, boxing, and shooting. But, as I mentioned earlier, we were disappointed. So the only silver comes from judo (female) and the bronze was from boxing. There was one medal contender (Mandakhnaran Ganzorig) in freestyle wrestling (men's 65 kg) but he lost his bronze medal match against an  Uzbek wrestler who won his previous match against  Puerto Rico's  Gomez "thanks to"  the three officials (South Korean Tong-Kun Chung, Russia's Sergei Novakovskiy and Temo Kazarashvili of Georgia) whom the International Wrestling Federation removed from the competition after that match. All three officials   face also further investigation and possible sanctions because of their false judgement.  So, this lucky Uzbek wrestler should not be competing in that bronze medal match against our wrestler, in the first place.(Read a report here )

Rumor says that there is a high ranking official of Uzbek nationality  in the World wrestling body and he is very influential. That is why the referees and judges feel  somehow obliged to support any Uzbek wrestler any way they could. That is maybe why and how the Uzbek wrestler Navruzov won Bronze medal,  "beating"  Puerto Rico's Gomez and our Mandakhnaran.
I read all the contradictory  reactions  about Mandakhnaran's match against Navruzov. Some people dictate the rules saying Mandakhnaran was penalized because he was avoiding (running around) to fight  his opponent, but others say that a warning should have been issued (after stopping the match) before  one could be  penalized if he repeats the violation . So, in this case no warning was issued and our wrestler was given straight the penalty. Some say also that there should not be any penalty point or score point if  the match has ended. The video shows that by the time the referee stops the fight to penalize him, the time has ended for this match.

So it really seems like that all depends  how or from what corner one sees it and makes judgement. There are some conflicting  rulings in wrestling regulations and that will allow officials use it to their own good. It is of course very hard to prove what good it does to them. Anyway, people say that Olympic Games (or any other international competition) become more corrupt, and  the main character and goal which is to  help  promoting  the friendship between the nations and people, is abandoned. Now it becomes more like a war between the nations: a war without arms for superiority and fame. Sport is being used as a tool for this purpose. It is just too sad that it has become like this  for some time now, and if all the people who oppose the misuse of sport do not begin to act soon, there will be more harm than good in the future.  It will not bring the nations and people of all color together and any closer.  It will do more the opposite.  And I hope that  the majority of people on this Earth don't want that.  It might just take some time before people would realize how deep we got in trouble. But by then it might be difficult to fix  and the price we , mankind, pay would be much higher.

Mandakhnaran's couches

With Mandakhnaran's loss in Bronze medal match, his couches gone mad and stripped down their clothing in front of the officials who oversaw the match , protesting the decision. The incident of the Mongolian couches was a huge  topic of debate in Mongolia.  They made Mongolia "famous" with their actions in Rio.  YouTube is full of  videos of their "striptease  show." Not all of Mongols are supporting their actions, and  blaming the athlete (Mandakhnaran) who supposed to have  had  engaged in wrestling to the end  and not avoiding it while few seconds were left. But the majority, including our President, thinks that our wrestler was robbed his medal. One can imagine and understand  how desperate and disappointed trainers can burst "in flames" when they see their hardwork in all these years is being ruined in seconds by some irresponsible or corrupt judges and referees.  They know the rules too and maybe blaming Mandakhnaran  too for avoiding the fight in last seconds, but they have also a good point too. An athlete should be warned first and only penalized if he repeats. And after the match ended it  should not  given  any score or penalty.

If you read all the comments left by readers who watched the videos of this incident , you will see  the hatred and hostility. No wonder. That is the result we achieved, letting the sport to be used as a tool for own advantages by the wrong people. We are called by names which  in return caused the same reaction. And we hate each other. Imagine for what?!

One could blame the way our couches acted and it was explosive and shocking because we see rarely this kind of action. Most athletes who robbed of their medals or lost their matches because of  unfair and wrong decisions do not protest "strong" and stay hurt and upset. Maybe in most cases their couches hold them back and  advise their athletes to just "swallow" it, fearing they might get some heavy penalty. And that exactly keep most of them quiet hence allowing this unfairness to continue to exist.

By the way,  this kind of unfair or wrong judgement caused many problems in other disciplines too. Not only at this Olympics but at  many previous Olympics and other major international competitions the controversial judgement  caused  always problems. With trained and experienced referees and judges on duty, one should not expect "human error" in making decisions. But then why it is happening all the time?  So the logical conclusion is that those who make "errors" do it intentionally, which again proves that  corruption does exist in sports. With this corrupted sport how would you expect that people become friends?  No way, right ?!

I don't know how to fix this but I hope with everybody raising their voices, one can make some changes. Maybe we should terminate the practice of having too much money involved in sports. We can praise and honor top athletes in different way than just giving some money for winning medals. We can "use" them in a way that is beneficial for both him/her and   the peace and friendship around the World.
I wish everybody recognizes the problem and act anyway he/she could. But unfortunately it is just not everybody does that and without a combined and united fight we cannot win. There are so many problems on Earth and in everybody's life, but this one is not a small one we  can ignore. So, please have your voice heard everywhere and anyway possible!  Say YES  to the clean and fair sports! :)

p.s. Mongolian Wrestling Federation is punished with 50 thousand Euro fine by the World Wrestling Organization. And those 2 couches are stripped off their position for 3 years. That is what you are going to get if you stand up against  the corrupt system.