女子拳擊不是倫奧唯一的新比賽項目，還有坦克。什麼是坦克？ to purposely lose a match, because of poor mental game or others; or to purposely lose a non-vital set, so as to focus energy and attention on a match-deciding set

坦克就是放水(放水是台灣的說法，不見得是英文坦克的原意)。放水已經成為非官方的比賽新違規項目。說到放水就讓人惱火……不如說羽毛球賽者打的不是羽毛球，是毽子球。

在奧林匹克競賽中，誰會想到有運動員要故意輸球的? 可不是我們澳洲運動員。如果我們的運動員想搞放水，我們就要派墨爾本足球俱樂部去比賽了。

大概有人笑話男子100公尺游泳接力賽中，澳洲選手可能也是故意輸的，但是這裡說的放水可不是開玩笑的。

那天羽毛球場上，先是中國隊，接著韓國隊，然後印尼隊，都在設法輸球 – 就像骨牌效應，一個一個倒下，群眾大聲譴責。 如果不是奧運這麼重要的競賽，那個畫面看來也許有趣。

平常看羽毛球賽對觀眾來說本來就不怎麼刺激，羽毛球選手故意輸球的鏡頭，就好像花式體操表演沒有音樂一樣，看起來像夢遊。

這是自從2004年奧運發生的澳洲女子划艇隊‘放下莎莉’事件以來，運動員不力引發的巨大風暴。（當年划艇隊員莎莉突然停止划槳。）

憤怒的觀賽者說，故意输球是違背奧林匹克憲章追求卓越的精神，所以會發生是因為許多國家認為奧林匹克憲章是以獲取金牌為終極目標，可以不計一切達到目的。

就事論事，這次羽毛球賽隊員故意輸球的目的的確是為了金牌。

他們， 或者是他們的教練，決定輸掉這一場球來閃躲下一個回合的強力對手是比較好的勝算。當然，說勝算不一定就是絕對的，但不失為最終獲取金牌的戰略。

可憐的中國佬，他們一定想，什麼玩意他們拼命比賽有話說，不拼命比賽也有話說。16歲的完美游泳女將葉詩文盡全力贏了，卻被質疑吃藥，現在他們的羽毛球女選手因為沒有盡力被除名。

下一次的風暴會是什麼？ 搞不好將來會有運動員吃‘變慢’的藥，就好像安眠藥一樣降低體力。

整個事件真的很糟，最糟的是，有人要懷疑放水這種作弊到底蔓延到什麼程度了。譬如說，牙買加的尤塞恩博爾特真的是目前世界上跑得最快的人嗎？還是一起比賽的對手們故意跑慢讓他贏的？

多年以前的網球賽，有網球選手，有錢又不在乎名譽，沒有好好贏球，被控告是為了搭早班飛機回去所以放水。 美國跟澳洲曾有足球隊設法在球季末輸球，以便得到優秀球員選拔的優先機會。澳洲足球在2007年也有類似的狀況發生。

不管怎麼樣，好消息是澳洲足球俱樂部的主席安德魯德莫特日歐也在倫敦觀賞奧運。足球迷一定希望他也去觀賞羽毛球賽了。（記者就放水的事情在倫敦採訪德莫特日歐先生，他說，如果有證據，歡迎檢舉澳洲足球比賽放水事實，他一定嚴格查辦。）

翻譯： pearlz 作者： Ross Brundrett

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/tanking-no-gagging-matter/story-e6frfhqf-1226442540512

Tanking has become the unofficial new discipline of these Games, and hasn't that set the cat among the pigeons ... or should that be the shuttlecock among the badminton players?

Who'd have thought it would ever come to this at the Olympics? Athletes deliberately setting out to lose. But not Australians.

No, if we wanted to go down that path we would have sent the Melbourne Football Club over to the Games.

Of course there were some predictable jokesters suggesting that our men's 100m relay team in the swimming may have tanked, but this was no gagging matter.

Playing dead at the Olympics was enough to make purists curl up their toes.

There was loud condemnation from the crowd at the badminton stadium when first a Chinese pair, and then the South Koreans and the Indonesians all tried to lose - like the domino effect, they were all falling over - which might have been funny if it wasn't so important, being the Olympics 'n' all.

The trouble for the spectators was that watching badminton is a not breathtaking at the best of times, so watching badminton players tanking was a bit like watching rhythm gymnastics without the cheesy music.

Surreal, but not in a good way.

Not since the days of Australian rower "Lay Down Sally" had so much furore erupted over an athlete downing tools.

Outraged observers said it ran afoul of the Olympic charter of the pursuit of athletic excellence, which might come as news to many nations who thought the Olympic charter was "get the gold whatever the cost".

Indeed, that's what the tanking badminton players were chasing, when it was all said and done.

They, or their coaches, decided that their best chances of continuing success in the tournament was to lose a match and thereby dodge a bullet in the next round against a powerful rival - which, of course, is a cynical approach but could be considered a tactical manoeuvre to gain the end prize, which is the gold medal.

The poor old Chinese must be thinking they are damned if they do, damned if they don't.

First, 16-year-old swimming sensation Ye Shiwen gets a grilling for trying too hard to win (with implications from some malcontents that she is taking performance-enhancing drugs), and now a couple of their badminton girls are sent packing for not trying hard enough.

What next? Maybe the next drug scandal in sport will be focused on athletes taking "go slow" drugs, like Nitrazepam, the sleeping tablet that is said to decrease physical performance.

It's a terrible business, and the worst thing now is that the doubters will wonder just how widespread this tanking business is. I mean, is Usain Bolt really the fastest man alive or are the other guys just making him look good?

That's what happens when the "T" word becomes a part of sport.

Of course, it infiltrated other elite sports events years ago.

In tennis, players with too much money and not enough pride have long been accused of tanking to catch an early flight or some such reason, and in football in both the US and Australia it has reached farcical levels with teams trying to lose late in the season and get priority draft picks of the best young talent.

Last year in the NFL, some supporters openly supported their teams losing so they could get the draft pick for a red-hot quarterback prospect named Andrew Luck. They even instigated a campaign called "Suck For Luck". There's something wrong in sport when that happens, surely.

Same story in the AFL as long ago as 2007, when Carlton and Melbourne contested what was dubbed the Kreuzer Cup, with Carlton ultimately losing - and winning the prized draft pick of the year, Matthew Kreuzer.

Mind you, the AFL doesn't help the situation by refusing to see the under-performing elephant in the room. At least the Olympic officials waved the black flag of disqualification.

The good news is that AFL boss Andrew Demetriou is over in London for the Games. Sports lovers can only hope he spent a bit of time at the badminton.

Ross Brundrett is a Herald Sun journalist