Angel Matos of Cuba deliberately kicked a referee square in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal match, prompting the World Taekwondo Federation to recommend he be banned for life.


With Matos winning 3-2, 1:02 left in the second round, he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan’s Arman Chilmanov. Matos was sitting there, awaiting medical attention, when he was disqualified for taking too much injury time. Fighters get one minute, and Matos was disqualified when his time ran out.


http://www.mmatko.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/ty-kick.jpg

Sidenote: While all of this was happening the other guy, Kazakhstan, was jumping around in victory (literally).

Funniest crap I've seen so far in the olympics! This guy reached a new level of sore-loserness.

Hei he was waiting for medical attention.

Give him a break.

Not like was drinking coffee or something

heard about this yesterday....i probably would have kicked him in the face too

and guys face is win

and he should have kicked his opponent in the head too....that idiot was so happy to win the bronze by a technicality......that guy fails hardcore

He did the right thing.
Honestly.

Not even giving the guy a warning that he had to get back into the fight immediately sounds overly strict. Giving only a minute for medical attention seems pretty silly, too. That said, Matos should've taken the proper channel by appealing to an appropriate official instead of kicking the referee—who was just doing his job strictly yet fairly—in the face. What Matos did gained nothing. The referee would be justified in taking him to court for assault (apparently Matos drew blood, suggesting he caused dental damage or made the referee bite tissue in his mouth inadvertently, so there was probably enough distress for assault charges. In fact, it seems the referee needed stitches).

By the way, Wikipedia claims that Matos and his coach (for whatever reason) are now both banned for life from WTF events. Based on the information, a lifetime ban for Matos is harsh considering how he was provoked; it's unlikely that he would've done something like that again: he apparently had a clean record until then and had achieved golds at an Olympic Games and a Pan American Games. I would guess that his coach is banned due to a 'the teacher is responsible for the student' approach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taekwondo_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics#Co ntroversies

I feel like the athlete shouldn't have done that. Rules are rules, and he should've been more aware of the situation. You can't just kick people (especially that's not trained) in the face for following the rules; this incident reminded me of the time when that one basketball player punched that referee, and I believe it ended his career. The picture is kind of funny, though.

The Ref was trained he even squared up to him after he was kicked, but like it was mentioned he was way outa line (angel) kicking that Ref, he shoulda appealed the decision, those rules are set in place by other not by the Ref and its upto the Ref to abide by them as a martial artist myself im disgusted by his approach to the situation (not really i couldn't give a shit but it sounds like i do care, i just think hes a dumbass for what he did on international TV).