Taekwondo Matos shoved the referee and kicked him in the head ?

what are peoples thoughts on this I am particularly interested in what current practitioner%26#039;s think of his actions and how much it has damaged the image of their Art ? I have included an ex cert from the bbc report on it .





also is the ban justified ?





Matos shoved the referee and kicked him in the head in a furious reaction.





The Cuban took gold in the 2000 Olympics, but he did not take kindly to being disqualified halfway through the bout for taking too long to return to action after an injury.


|||Regardless of what happened he shouldn%26#039;t have kicked the ref.





He not only has got himself a life time ban but dishonoured himself and his art all over the world through media coverage.





Can he call himself a true martial artist now ?





All that for loss of temper in the heat of the moment, well he%26#039;ll have the rest of his life to ponder on it with regret no doubt :(





Best wishes :)***|||He absolutely must be disqualified for life. He did not just breach the rules of his sport or cheat, like faking being fouled in football or a late or high tackle, he physically assaulted someone. He committed a criminal act. He could have seriously injured the ref. I watched footage of the kick and it looked like a glancing blow but what if the ref had fallen back and banged his head? To anyone who thinks his action was ok I would ask what actions you feel anyone can take towards anyone else if they feel they have been wrongly treated. If I felt that you have wronged me can I then assault you and to what extent? |||He must have bought his Black Belt,because he has no control,or discipline.I am a practicing Goju-Ryu stylist for 35 yrs.I am a Go Dan(5th degree black belt) that kind of action would never be excused by my Master or other practicioner%26#039;s.The ban is justified.You don%26#039;t throw a temper tantrum because things didn%26#039;t go your way.Sometimes there might be a bad call,or even call%26#039;s.We have to suck it up,and move on,and accept the referee%26#039;s action.That is part of the game we chose to play.Take care,and rock on!|||It certainly damaged HIS image, his coaches image, and his country%26#039;s since that is what he was representing. It has not damaged tae kwon do as an art. In my opinion he should be banned for life. He was aware of the rules and under no circumstances should he have threatened the judges or hit a referee.|||i watched this particular match ,but for the injury time out the Cuban would have won.his behaviour was disgrace full and no discredit to Taekwondo,the art is great ,he put himself down and his coach.the penalty was justified ,no one can assault the referee and get away with it|||I%26#039;m glad he got disualified, he totally deserved it! I%26#039;m not that angry though, I don%26#039;t like the WTF style in general. I do traditional ITF style. Ya, I totally agree with Rob B. I don%26#039;t like the idea of doing taekwondo as a sport. I do it for the self defence.|||First and foremost, using your art to hurt someone outside a self-defense situation is disgraceful.





Attacking a sports official is unforgivable.





So yes, I agree with a lifetime ban. |||the cubans made a bad name for themselves in fighting. in boxing it was a british man vs a cuban man and at one point the cuban bit him on the shoulder while in a clinch





gb still went on to get gold|||I wish he had done more. I can see why he did it and i think he acted out of temper of the qualty of refs. He should not have done it but i think what he did has changed people views of refs in all tourniments.|||*Disqualification


*Banned for life from WTF


*Records of the Beijing Olympics erased








I think they should of added





*Jail time|||He has been banned for life from all WTF events, World Championships, Pan Am Games, Olympics, etc. I think this is a fair and justified punishment.





While I think the center referees did fine in the TKD tournament, the 4 corner judges did poor job throughout the tournament on what is/is not a point. Way too much controversy on points. They seemed to only award points for rear leg round kicks at full contact. I saw a lot of front leg round kicks that were not counted, and even several head kicks that were not counted. It didnt appear to favor one fighter over another, it just seemed that they were not awarding points.





As for the Cuban%26#039;s future, there are other TKD associations. He will probably still work with and help train other Cuban athletes, but won%26#039;t be able to attend.





I think his coaches are to blame. They have an injury time clock and they need to watch it.





That being said, I think you can continue with a broken toe. He was standing up as time expired, and his trainers were getting ready to get off the mat. Not to mention he was leading 3-2.





The other guy starts celebrating like he knocked him out, when really he was losing.





By the letter of the law, the ref was right. But I know I would be pissed off too.





But....no matter how ticked I was, I would not have kick the ref in the face.





In contrast, Nigerian Bronze Medalist Chika Chukumerije was a class act throughout. Even bowing to the ref when receiving a deduction point. He was one of the most exciting fighters of the tournament too.





James|||i agree with what the cuban done he shouldnt have be disqualified