Scoring for Women's Gymnastics

Chinese judge?  I thought if a country is in the competition, there would not be a judge of that nationality? 

Although I suspect there was some type of negotiation going on....

I really don't like the new system. 

What's wrong with have 2 people with the same score?  If they are equally good, why can't they be in the sample place? 

He Kexin is good (regardless of age).  Nastisa is good, too.  They both deserved to get gold.

In so far as the tie breaker goes, I think the system being used for tie-breaking in uneven bars is totally illogical.  With that said, when this system was devised all coaches were told of it beforehand.  I personally am more shocked that there weren't serious protests against the system that was devised.

I don't see why there needs to be a tie breaker.  In both swimming AND track a tie means both get a medal.  Why does the IOC insist it be any different in gymnastics?  Perhaps it is because it is a JUDGED event as opposed to a timed event.  I dunno.

Of course, I love to watch gymnastics but dislike judged events in the olympics and think they should all go away.  I realize I am in the minority with that opinion.

Andi

You are right.  There was a LOT of talk about the fact that since you can't have judges from any of the countries represented in the competition, you get some less knowledgable judges.  In the case of the uneven bars, you couldn't have a judge from America, China, Romania, Russia, ect.  So you end up with judges from like South Africa and Australia judging Olympic competitions.  And we all know about the storied gymnastics histories those countries have, riiiight.  So the judges in effect, end up sucking big time.

I agree, the uneven bars tie breaker is completely illogical.  In the case of that event, you really just need to have two gold medalists.  If they can do it in other sports, I don't see why you can't in gymnastics.  There were actually two tie breakers last night, one in the men's vault.  But that tie breaker is much more obvious - that the person with the highest single vault wins.   What happened in the women's vault - I can't figure that one out for the life of me.

Just to play devil's advocate - do people realize how many events have a judges opinion in them????  Weightlifting has judges that say whether a lift counts or not.   Basketball, soccer, water polo, volleyball, and baseball/softball have referees.  Fencing had a judge that called which person got the touch.  Almost every sport has an outcome that can be directly affected by someone outside of the athlete.  Really the only sports that don't work that way are ones on the track and ones in the pool.

Heh, not for water polo and diving....

Just despicable, imo. I agree with crazy old Bela Karoly on this one. If you FALL, you do not win! I'm sorry! Simple as that. He wasn't upset about the floor results, even though they didn't necessarily work out the way people would have liked. That was a fair competition. The best girl won. All three were amazing.

But this sort of thing has been happening for years. Russian figure skaters falling all over themselves and still winning, the Chinese messing up and still winning. Come on, folks - does none of this seem fishy? I'm all for believing in equality and not hating on countries that do not run the way America does, but given the extensive history of those two countries, you can't help but wonder, ya know?

hey i did mention water polo - but i forgot diving!  but i meant the swimming races only   

Agreed (Bela is a nutball).  And yeah, you gotta wonder what's really going on.  I do think that since the judges are not experienced with gymnastics b/c they are from non-gymnastics savvy countries, that a lot of it goes to reputation and who the home country is.  Aside from when judges are bought off (which hopefully we aren't seeing here again...), I think those two things play a major roll.  When the crowd is that rowdy I'd bet it impacts the judges a lot more than they want to admit.

Actually, there are judges in swimming too . People can do things wrong in the pool...

True the ref's don't determine the actual scoring.  But take my home team, the Pistons for example.  Call a few quick fouls and it completely changes the tactics of the team and takes them out of their rhythm.  Call a few quick fouls on whoever is guarding Kobe or Lebron and watch how the defense loosens up on them and they score more, because the defender is worried about fouling out or causing a 3 point play.  Then watch Kobe or Lebron take advantage.  It's not the actual scoring, but the referees can greatly impact the way a team plays, which in effect can end up deciding who wins and who loses. 

Let me re-phrase.  I think events where outcome is determined 100% on subjective human judging should be eliminated.  Of course, it won't happen, it's just my opinion.

Sure, there will be situations where close calls are determined by judging in other sports.  Was the tennis ball in or out?  Was the basketball player fouled or not?  Did the swimmer use an illegal kick?  It is rare (but does happen) that these human calls determine the outcome of the game or race in these other sports.  Also, replay is available and usually fairly clear - sometimes it isn't used though.

And, I know 100% judged sports (gymnastics, diving) are wildly popular and I certainly enjoy watching them, but the outcome generally doesn't mean a lot to me.  I can say all this and I do compete in a sport where only judging is used (at the top in my state in taekwondo).  As a competitor you just remind yourself that it's what you signed up for and need to always have a good attitude regardless of the outcome.  I've won when I shouldn't have and lost when I shouldn't have.  Oh well.  I don't get too excited about either...  One of the main reasons I still do tri's (Other than I love them) although I could be very competitive in taekwondo is that I am hesitant to devote a lot of myself to something where the outcome is so subjective, although I do love both sports.  I am often torn - tri or taekwondo this weekend?  Mostly, it is tri's.

Andi