Sunday, August 28, 2016

Oh, South Korea...

I watched a fair bit of the Olympics while I was back in America.  At my sister's place near Baltimore, I had to convince my nephew that a re-run of The New Teen Titans wasn't as interesting as soccer or swimming.  At my Dad's, with there being no internet, it was more out of sheer boredom.

Anyhow, the Olympics were a pretty big deal here in South Korea with a decent number of medals won.  And of course, the Korean commentators couldn't have been more sexist:
"According to the spreadsheet, when Korea's Choi In-jeong appeared in women's epee individual, Saturday, a KBS announcer said, 'Smiling like that, she looks like a contestant in a beauty pageant.'

When the camera showed a foreign athlete straightening the bent end of her epee with mending equipment, he said, 'It is impressive to see a female athlete dealing with iron equipment.'

Introducing the Vietnamese opponent to Korean judoka Jeong Bo-kyeong, an SBS commentator said, 'She participated in the London Olympics. She is 28 years old, which is old for a woman.'

For the 48 kilogram elimination round in judo, a male KBS announcer asked his female co-announcer, 'Do you weigh more than 48 kilograms?' He also described a female judoka as 'a slender girl.'"
Obviously, Olympic coverage of Rio was terrible in almost every language, especially with regards to sexism.  But it's nice to see Korean viewers calling bullshit on their own home-grown version.

Also, good riddance forever to Hope Solo.

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