Fencing's Never-Ending Second

The Never-Ending Second was a controversial moment in the 2012 Summer Olympics Women's Épée Semi Final which happened on the 30th of July 2012.

Going into the one-minute sudden death, A-lam was assigned priority at random, meaning that she would win come the finish of the minute and the scores still tied.

At request of the referee, due to the obscurity of the length of the second, the timekeeper was to check the clock to see the actual remaining time.

[3] Almost immediately A-lam's coach, Shim Jaesung, protested this decision as there was clearly initially far less than a second remaining on the clock before the restart, and this reset would give Heidemann another chance at winning in such dire circumstances.

Their protests fell on deaf ears, however, and the match resumed with a full second left on the clock.

[10] During her protest, the Korean team made an official appeal on the claim that Heidemann had hit A-lam just after the timer had run out.