Fencing's Never-Ending Second | Strangest Moments

The fencing piste is not normally a setting for controversy, but that all changed at London 2012 when Britta Heidemann took on Shin A-Lam.

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[JohnSmith-ezpw]

They did not have clocks that could be reset to a fraction of a second in a sport that deals with fractions of a second? That is pretty bad.

[omerinflow]

Olympics channel is like: "Let us show you how we fucked up"

[blahblah-sgyj]

So ur telling me that the Olympics don't have a timer with milliseconds but my phone does????

[taire]

I was there in the audience that day- insane to watch. Felt awful for her

[peenut]

That moment when you realize your school team has more accurate scoreboards than the Olympics

[gamingbutnotreally]

That moment when the freaking OLYMPICS doesn’t have access to a clock with milliseconds

[cosmack]

Theyre the biggest sporting event in the world and cant afford a clock that can set miliseconds

[notanonymous]

imagine the international winner being randomly assigned

[ithofnov]

Every one that is in sport knows the value of milliseconds. How could the olympic not have known this

[William_Reader]

It's like abusing saves in a videogame to avoid defeat.

[Kwinowarice]

I cried so hard for her. 70 minutes sitting there without leaving. That was heart breaking

[ayeyo]

The most disgraceful part: the pathetic officials

[jacobciolino]

This is why I feel like priority shouldn’t be awarded at random, but to whoever scored the first touch of the match. Simple fix which gives even more meaning and value to the first point. Fencing and random do not pair well.

[KarismaKing]

I dont understand fencing but between the clock not being able to be properly calibrated and there being such a rule as priority being randomly chosen seems like a sport that needs a lot of tweaking.

[butzmn]

I remember seeing this live on T.V.
Even the German commentators weren't sure what to make of it.

[arduous]

In 2012, it sorta became a meme in Korea. The opponent is regarded as a master of sword arts like ones from Jin Yong novels, who could stab 4 times in a second. Also, "1 second" became synonymous with "an extremely long time to do anything". I feel sorry for her.

[dankeman]

i don‘t know fencing but this priority rule sounds like complete bs, really

[dootscat]

Terrible moment in fencing and Olympic history. Who wants to lose or win like that?

[semulajadiku]

I have a similar experience during my middle school. I placed first on 100m sprint, but the person who should be tracking my finish time didn't do his job properly so we were asked to restart the race. During that time, I just finished 4 sprint events (100m, 200m solo and relay). Feeling hopeless, reluctant and dejected I still have to comply with the field event judge's decision. At the end, I placed second. Although, this happened on lower level it still affects my whole experience as a teenager.

Thank you for taking the time to read, just wanted to share the unfairness that I've experienced after watching the video.

[silverniffler]

As a fencer, every time I watch this video I have so many emotions. When someone wins in such a short amount of time, it is so infuriating and emotional. I can only imagine what Shin A-Lam was feeling when her victory for herself and Korea slipped away because of a clock mistake. It is absolutely heartbreaking.