Note: this episode is being reposted from an earlier date, as the original upload was lost in a website migration. Apologies for the confusion!
By now I’m sure many of you have seen, read, or heard of the article published as a result of a fairly lengthy and involved bit of investigative journalism by Desmond Butler of the Washington Post. (links below)
There’s certainly an expectation upon someone like me to have a reaction and response to this, and that’s what episode 211 is. I am not fully taking one side on this – I think it’s worth noting that all parties named here are complicit, and it’s worth stating that the real victims are those who’s placings were impacted by those willing to paint outside the lines of fairness to curry favor with those in power.
That being said, this is a gross, shitty thing and the people at the forefront of this disgusting mess need to be extricated from the sport, and we need real transparency in judging to make it harder for things like this to happen in the future.
The allegations in this article take place largely in the 2005-2015 time frame, but it’s a certainty that things LIKE this are still happening behind the scenes.