An Olympic Plagiarism Scandal

Well, this happened more than a year ago, but I'm only now finding out about it. In case I'm not literally the last to know, I'll proceed.

On August 2016, as the Rio games were about to start, and on the recommendation of its ethics committee, the International Olympic Committee suspended one member, Moon Dae-sung (of South Korea) after it emerged that his Ph.D. thesis was largely plagiarized.

The thesis, submitted to Kookmin University, was on the physiology of taekwondo, specifically on "Effect of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) on Flexibility and Isokinetic Muscle Strength in Taekwondo Player."

Somehow I am reminded of Bill Cosby, who became Dr. Cosby on the strength of a dissertation on the use of "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" as a teaching tool.

Moon won a gold medal as a taekwondo athlete at the Athens Olympics in 2004.

I suppose it is good that people who are rich and famous for something non-cerebral want to be able to put a "Ph.D." after their names, or a "Dr." in front, and it is natural that they try to leverage their success in that other field whether comedy or the martial arts, into the academic domain.

http://thesportdigest.com/2016/08/moon-dae-sung-suspended-as-ioc-member-over-plagiarism/

Further, it may be natural for an institution of higher learning to "let the famous guy slide," because he attracts favorable attention and perhaps donors, to the school. But it is a temptation they ought to resist.

For information on the Cosby side of is analogy, click here: http://www.thesuperficial.com/bill-cosby-phd-thesis-paid-fat-albert-writers-sham-degree-12-2014

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