A look back at the Olympics badminton scandal - Shakespeare style

The media and Olympics committee were not easy on the 8 women badminton players, who were found guilty of “not using best efforts” and “conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport”. However, little light was shed upon the amount of weight that the players felt when they tried to lose their last match in the Group stage. Here is how William Shakespeare would have expressed the athletes’ feelings.

To cheat or not to cheat? That is the question –

Whether ‘tis wiser to endure

The smashes and drops from team killing

Or to cheat to prevent a sea of tears,

And, by cheating, avoid them? To cheat, to throw the game

No more – and by throwing away a game to say we end

The headache and thousand fans’ disappointment

That the game is heir to – ‘tis the quarterfinals

Devoutly to be gamed! To lose, to fail.

To fail, perchance lose our medal – Ay, there’s the rub,

For in that failure to win what athletes dream of

When we have betrayed the mountain of expectations,

Must give us pause. There’s the sportsmanship

That makes calamity of our careers!

This poem was adapted from Hamlet’s soliloquy from the play (Hamlet), written by William Shakespeare. “To be or not to be?” This quote and the consequent paragraph are situated in the center of the play Hamlet, of the center of pieces written by Shakespeare, which are deemed as the center of the English language.

Unfortunately, Badminton, as a sport, was damaged because of these athletes’ poor decisions. The 2012 Olympics Badminton scandal will serve as a grave warning for the need of our world to uphold sportsmanship.