The Crocodiles and Sharks of Taekwondo

(Well isn’t this a day/week for blogging!)

The Crocodile Conspiracy

I questioned two blogs/one day ago Peter Lopez’s original intentions for “joining” the Peruvian National Taekwondo team. I also lambasted (as freedom of speech permits me to do) Paris Amani’s involvement under the Peruvian flag after sharing his misconstrued “perspective” of Peru on his own website.

Towards the end of my commentary I wrote, “They are all crocodiles from the same pond and Peter Lopez swims with this bunch;”

This is not the “Inquisition of Peter Lopez Redux,” but rather this evaluates the controversial pond he swims in and gives more insight as to where his usury may have been forged.

So what prompted this blog? Well, more controversy of course! And plenty of it!

Being the Taekwondo aficionada that I am (just read the “My Journey” section), I checked Yahoo! Sports to see how Steven Lopez fared in his Olympic matches and to see what scandal he was involved in this time. If you’ve followed Taekwondo in the past two Olympics (now three) and Taekwondo World Championships then you know that Steven Lopez always draws the blood of controversy.

The Lopez family is a family you either love or hate. They have been dubbed as the “Royal Family of Taekwondo,” and have received as much positive attention as negative attention.

This time around there seems to a hot bed of negative attention surrounding Steven’s bronze medal win. Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports wrote a column about the “controversial” bronze. (click here for article) I don’t know if the article was to summon the villagers to side with Lopez or to paint him and his coach as sore 3rd place losers. My impression after reading the story was that they took the 3rd place win as a sore loss and the article even goes as far as portraying them as having a very unsportsmanlike attitude regarding the final results.

There is a wave of comments on each of the Lopez family members’ Athlete Profile page and the comments are either Hot or Cold, there doesn’t seem to be much of a middle ground. I won’t post the excerpts of the comments that people are leaving. I think that the comments left by the supporters AND detractors of the Lopez family are mean-spirited, immature, and uncivil. Just click on the name of the Lopez athletes below to read the comments on their pages:

1. Steven Lopez
2. Mark Lopez
3. Diana Lopez

Not So Even Steven

Let’s keep pace and stick with the most senior controversy maker of the bunch, Steven Lopez. There has been much question about Steven’s technique and style of play in sparring matches for many years. There has been much public protesting and ruckus over his controversial wins in the past and those matches will be revisited through the power of YouTube.

Madrid 2005 – 17th World Taekwondo Championships

If you skip forward to Round 3 (6:15) in the video, you can see how emotional the crowd is about the match. Towards the final seconds there is a large booing from the crowd as they are displeased with the final outcome.

Sydney 2000 – Olympic Games

In 2000 Steven was heavily criticized for using his knee to “avoid” fighting. It can be said that the “knee raise” is one of Steven’s signature moves.

I’d like to show competition footage of his Athens 2004 Gold Medal match, but unfortunately the videos of this on Youtube are a collage created by his fans. I should also note that the 2008 Olympic coverage cannot be shown via YouTube as it is copyrighted material.

In 2006 Steven Lopez was suspended for 3 months after failing a doping test. He claims that it was an over the counter vapor-inhaler that caused the positive test results. There has been speculation in the past regarding the use of steroids within the Lopez clan, but these suspicions have never been proven.

Diana’s Controversial Hunt for Her Olympic Dream

It appears however that Steven is NOT the lone controversy maker of his family. His younger sister, Diana Lopez, participated in her first Olympics this year. In 2004 it was Nia Abdullah (who competes in the same weight class as Diana) that had the honor to represent the USA and brought back a Silver Medal from Athens.

There is a video (not just on YouTube) that records the final match between Diana Lopez and Nia Abdullah. This match was the determining match for which one of the two ladies would be going to the Olympics. After viewing the video multiple times, I must agree that Nia Abdullah won the match and that she was the much more superior fighter. Diana threw a roundhouse kick at the final second and ran away cheering her “point.” This is quite common in Taekwondo and the Lopez’s are no strangers to this feign.

Diana Lopez vs. Nia Abdullah – Olympic Qualifier

Nia Abdullah’s brother wrote a blog about his sister’s loss and Nia herself did several media interviews discussing the matter.

Nia critically commented, “I want to help change some things in Tae Kwon Do because I love this sport. I beat Diana Lopez and they know it so we are letting the whole entire world know what was done to me”, said Abdallah. “We came up with a new term that if you get cheated in something that means you got ‘Lopezed’, because they have a history of receiving favoritism.”

Media Darlings?

I cannot accurately say that I’ve found more positive comments than negative comments about the Lopez’s or equal amounts of both, however the focus seems to be very negative at this point and the Lopez’s may have burned one bridge too many within the sport of Taekwondo.

According to Charle’s Robinson’s article Steven says, “(WTF officials) don’t think about the repercussions until after they make a mistake,” Steven Lopez said. “They know the power we have as a family and bringing limelight to our sport…”

I don’t know in what intonation Steven made this comment, but it is far from humble. Steven is correct about his family’s power. He’s garnered corporate sponsors before for the Olympics, and now with all three siblings going/having gone to the Olympics, corporate sponsorship just became more lucrative.

The Lopez’s participated in commercials for AT&T & Visa and have a list of other corporate sponsors behind them.

The sponsorships and endorsement deals have raised questions about the Lopez’s wins and whether or not they are a part of a great marketing machine conspiracy.

What is a Medal Worth?

The other question is, “How much was each medal worth?” It is common knowledge that sponsors give their athletes an incentive for winning. Take Noor Ahmad Gayezabi of Afghanistan. He was awarded $50,000 by the Afghan Wireless Communication Company for his and Afghanistan’s first gold medal.

So how much was on the line for the Lopez family, their coaches and trainers? Why was Herb Perez so irate about Steven’s bronze medal win? What monetary reward was there in it for him?

If Peter Lopez (friend – not relative of the Lopez family) had won a medal for Peru, he would have been awarded at least $12,500 USD, S/.12,500 PEN and a $5,000 USD scholarship just for winning bronze. Non-Peruvian coach, Paris Amani would have been rewarded $3,000 USD by the Peruvian Sports Institute (IPD.) There was a reason for Peter to cry when he lost.

“El Mundo da Vueltas”

The WTF, the Taekwondo community and Taekwondo fans seem to be fed up with the Lopez family’s sour attitude and haughty behavior on what should have been a positive celebration of a positive achievement.

Steven continues to say in Robinon’s article, “There are bad calls all the time. This is one of the times that it happened to me. It normally doesn’t, but it happened. It sucks.”

I believe Steven Lopez got what he deserved and should express his gratitude rather than act like an ingrate about his 3rd place win.

Others say he not only got what he deserved, but karma just paid him back in spades.

Has the Lopez family finally Jumped the Taekwondo Shark? Is Peter Lopez a graduate of the School of the Lopez Family? You be the judge.