Do you think its fair that Angel Matos was banned from the olympics?

Question

Kicking that referee was definitely not a good decision but he did have a reason for it. If he was injured he shouldn't have been disqualified because he exceeded the amount of time he was allowed for his injury. Does anyone here think his punishment was a bit too much?

also keep in mind that his beijing records might be deleted as well. Give me your thoughts and opinions on this matter.

Answer 1

Injury timeout is only 1 minute. After that its a dq and Matos went past the one minute mark. Then kicking a referee in the face is not acceptable so life time ban seems right since it is the Olympics. You just don't go around kicking people in the face... especially the officials.  

Answer 2

I have no idea what this is about but there seems to be no disagreement about the fat that a referee was kicked because of a decision (maybe even a terrible one).

For that one thing though and irrespective of the reasons it is right that he be banned.

Officials/referees in any sport must be sacrosanct! They MUST be UNTOUCHABLE!

Some officials are good ... far too many are atrocious at times but there is NEVER an excuse to touch them!

To do so is to intimidate them, to coerce their decision making in certain directions, to cause decisions to be made out of fear and not as  a ruling on the merits if the play.

The official stands outside the play and is impartial and objective. They cannot influence the play, nor interfere with the players and they must never be interfered with themselves.

Certainly officials can s***w this up and make bad or biased calls but there is still NEVER an excuse to lay a hand (or a foot) on them EVER!

Sorry, if he has only been banned from future Olympics he has probably gotten off lightly. In my opinion, for such a transgression the offender should be banned from ANY participation in the sport for life!

Answer 3

hes allowed to protest but not allow to get violent. he should go to jail for battery

Answer 4

I didn't see the match so I don't know if the referee alerted him about the time limit running out or just DQ'd him at the 60 second mark. I do think he should be banned for it though, he could have raised a protest. But the refereeing at the Taekwando was sometimes atrocious and I hope that that is looked in to as well.

I have no clue why his coach was banned though?

Answer 5

Yes, he totally deserves to be banned.!  Anger, frustration, whatever, an athlete should never use his physical power to attack a referee.  Many athletes in the Beijing games have been disqualified, and Angel was rightfully disqualified.  I saw the photo of him kicking the ref in the face....it looks brutal.

Angel matos is a low-class cad, and I find it hilarious that his record will be wiped and he will be banned.

Good riddance!

Answer 6

Look, you cannot touch an official. Bottom line. It doesn't matter if he had a reason to be mad. That isn't how you handle the situation. Yes I do think he deserved to be banned. No, if he yelled at the ref, or left the stage, or something to that affect, and he was banned, I would be outraged. But he hit an official. You cannot do that, in any sport. He needs to be banned, and made an example of. People cannot think that is ok to do.  

Answer 7

I absolutely think that it was fair to ban Matos for life for deliberately kicking a referee and causing the ref to need stitches.

If Matos had a problem with the refs call, he should have filed a formal complaint, not resort to physical violence.  There is no place in the olympics for physical violence ever.

His presence at the games should not be erased.  They should allow the records to stand and show the truth to the entire world; that Matos is a sore loser who resorts to violence when he doesn't get his way.  

Records of this should be availble too all so that upcoming Olympians will know that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.

EDIT: When I wrote this, I had not seen the video replay.  I just it.  As Champagne Charlie said, it was unforgivable.

I showed the video to my husband, he and I agree Matos should be criminally charged with assault.  It was a blatent physical assault against a human being.

Answer 8

What's not fair is that we don't give him an even more severe punishment. Expressing violence towards a referee/judge for his rulings in any kind of competitions should always be met with maximum penalty, let alone in an Olympics competition where the very idea of it is for civilized people around the world to compete in a PEACEFUL manner. If you think the referee is unfair, file a complaint. The moment he ripped open that referee's lip with his undisciplined self, he forfeited his chance to say something about the matter. This barbaric, foolish, uncivilized act of his should never be tolerated at any level. If he is not banned for this, the example will catch on, making the Olympics not worthy of its long epic history.