There were a very famous story about match fixing that most Chinese are aware of:
At the 37th World Table Tennis Championships in 1987, He Zhili won the women's singles championship. Her championship came because she refused to "throw away the match." At the time, the coaching staff arranged for her to lose to teammate Guan Jianhua in the semi-final match because Guan had better odds of beating South Korean player in the final. But He Zhili defeated Guan Jianhua without announcing her intention beforehand, and then she won in the final. He Zhili ultimately left the team because she was excluded from the Olympic team roster in 1988. At the time, He Zhili was ranked number one in the world. She got married and move to Japan.
Six years later, at the Asian Games in Hiroshima, He Zhili knocked out Qiao Hong, Chen Jing and Deng Yaping, all three of whom were tops in the world from China, in a single day representing Japan. She was called a traitor and some more by some Chinese:-)

By reading some of the public and official reactions so far about the badminton punishment, I am really glad they got the penalty like that! The "shame" that brought to each country will at least minimize the same happening again.

-Jun

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During the late 80's/early 90's I played tournement racquetball and I'll admit there were times I probably should have lost a match deliberately (I HATED playing a finals match at 8:00am on Sunday, followed by another at 9:00am) - but I just couldn't do it. It wouldn't have been fair to the person I was playing against - not to mention how much I really hate losing. Don't like getting beat, but I absofreakinlutely HATE losing. (Getting beat = someone was better than I; Losing = I beat myself)
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>I've long believed that when we started making a big deal out of the medal count we started losing the 'olympic spirit'.
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>>You are absolutely correct about China. It's team and coaches decision in their case.
>>This has been happening in badminton and table tennis matches for as long as I can remember which is quite long, damn I hate to admit that :-).
>>Nowadays it's for medal counts, in this particular instance, they would get Gold and Silver instead of Gold and Bronze by avoiding the tow top Chinese top pairs colliding each other. In the old times, there even can be political reasons, I recall there is one table tennis match, one of the Chinese top woman intentionally lose to a North Korean player so she can won a Gold Medal, well they were China's closest ally then, very disturbing? yes!
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>>On the other hand, The World Badminton Federation knew this all along and did nothing. This time they shocked Chinese and other country with a heavy hand. Why? It's best understood by one of the officials from the Federation, "We have to do this or risk losing badminton to Olympics". Well, nobody want see that, right?
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>>And not play to your full ability for the eventual goal of winning a Medal or gaining some advantage in the future, right or wrong are still debated by people across different countries, it's not new. Don't NBA teams throw away games at the end of the season in order to get better draft rank? Some argue the rule is at fault.
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>>Now I just read this "IOC clears British cyclist of deliberate crash", http://www.ajc.com/sports/ioc-clears-british-cyclist-1490307.html
>>Well, that's part of the game as they say. So that's apples and oranges, or is it?
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>>-Jun
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>>>I feel sorry for the atheletes involved. You really don't want to lose - if you did, you wouldn't be at this level - but what happens if you go against your coach's instructions? Particularly if you're from China? Their #1 player has announced her retirement (she was on the team from China that got disqualified), so I guess that's one way to handle it.
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>>>>>The badminton match throwing was stunning. Did they really think it would not trigger a sanction? It was an insult to everyone who paid their money and made travel plans just to be there. For starters.
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>>>>I know this won't be a popular sentiment but.................
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>>>>Imagine you're playing in a 1 on 1 basketball tournament. If you win your match you will qualify out of the round-robin section and go the the quarterfinals against Kobe. If you lose you still qualify out of the round-robin secion but your quarterfilans opponent will be Will Perdue.
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>>>>If your goal is to win each match you will be nobel and be out of medal contention.
>>>>If your goal is the highest OVERALL placement you can attain.............
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>>>>Don't blame the atheletes. Blame the organizers who put them in a position where it is actually in the athlete's best interest to lose a particular match to enhance chances for a higher overall placement.