With a berth in the gold medal match of the women’s individual epee fencing match on the line, South Korea’s Shin A Lam and Germany’s Britta Heidemann were tied with a second left on the clock in overtime. But a controversial finish left both fencers in the middle of the 2012 Olympics’ most bizarre moment so far.
Fencing Controversy Causes South Korea’s Shin A Lam To Protest On Piste
Shin had priority with :01 on the clock and the score tied in overtime, and would have, in theory, reached the gold medal final when time ran out without a clean touch. Three successive touches without a clean touch happened without the clock running out, however, and Heidemann scored on the fourth, earning her a 6-5 overtime victory and a berth in the final — but only after nearly a half-hour of deliberation by the judges.
Shin remained sitting on the piste after the decision, as leaving it would have been seen as a tacit acceptance of the ruling. And then more nuttiness happened, according to NBC:
UPDATE: The PA announcer at the ExCeL arena told the crowd at 2:39 ET, “As part of the rules it is required that the Korean official lay down a sum of money for the appeal to be valid. That procedure is now in progress.”
At 3:00 ET Shin was escorted off the piste in tears. No word on the status of the appeal.
For those curious about how that all looked, Deadspin has video of the final touch of the match and Shin refusing to leave the piste.
The women’s gold medal final in women’s individual epee fencing has been rescheduled. Shin has since returned to the piste to fence in the bronze medal match.
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