4. 1988: Korean boxing fix

Korea wanted to put on a good show in Seoul. Particularly, in boxing. Olympic boxing is the most crooked thing I've ever seen. One part martial art, two-parts rhythmic gymnastics, always remember: boxing is a judged sport. At times there is no rhyme, reason or consistency to any of the scoring in boxing, and when the right palms are greased, anything can happen.

The South Koreans had all sorts of backdealings going on in boxing when they had the Games, that it got an entire chapter all to itself in the bestselling bible of Olympic corruption, The New Lords of the Rings. Not wanting to lose face, there were two instances in which they were guaranteed a gold medal. No matter what happened. Even if their boxers convulsed into epileptic seizures on the canvas.

Look: you lost. Okay? Get over it. What do you think they're going to do? Come up to you and say "Well gee, Korean boxer guy, we were gonna give the match to the Bulgarian, but seeing you sit here and throw a tantrum clearly shows that you're the better fighter. Here's your fucking medal." Uhhh...no. What are you, three? Be a man.

The first is the infamous Byun Jong-il, in the Bantamweight division. Assured a medal by the judges, he got pasted by Bulgaria's Alexander Hristov and had points deducted for headbutting. There was no way the judges could fudge this one; they ruled in favour of the Bulgarian. Byun had lost, and lost badly. Upset at the decision, Byun sat down in the middle of the ring and staged a silent protest for 67 minutes. He stayed there, motionless, eventually giving up after the organisers turned off the hall lights and left him in darkness. Ha ha ha.

Of course Korea was just as livid. The New Zealand referee of the match, Keith Walker, nearly had the crap beaten out of him by Korean boxing officials and security guards. He had to flee Seoul the next day.

The second story is even more bizarre. Park Si-Hun, in the light-middleweight division, fought through five consecutive disputed victories, assured of the gold medal--and won. How? To this day nobody really knows. In the final match he met an upstart American teenager who absolutely destroyed him. I'm talking a big league demolishing, like Ivan Drago on Apollo Creed. The match was nowhere even close, the landed punches were something like 86-15 for the American, and if the fight had gone on another round, he would've sent Park into the parking lot (hehe). Yet the judges ruled for the Korean. Something this blatant is not a mistake or miscalculation. The fix was clearly on. But even though everyone knew, no one owned up to it, the judges insisted Park had won, and no investigation or protest was ever staged. The matter was quietly buried, and to this day the judges stand by their decision. Because, you know, obviously Park Si-Hun was the superior boxer. Why, just look at the incredible professional career he went on to have after the Olympics.

By the way, the name of the American who obliderated him? Some nobody called Roy Jones Jr.