When U.S. gymnast Aly Raisman completed her routine on the balance beam during the individual finals Tuesday, she hugged her coach and stared at the scoreboard, waiting to see whether she had done enough to medal.
When the score finally flashed, a nervous Raisman became disappointed.
"Oh, no!" her coach, Mihai Brestyan, proclaimed as he spotted the eerily familiar results.
She had landed in fourth place – again – and just shy of the medal stand for the second time in the Olympics.
What happened next would again thrust the judges, athletes and coaches into a heated debate over Olympic scoring.
As Raisman tried to hold back her disappointment, shouts came from the crowd. U.S. national team coordinator Martha Karolyi, her husband, Bela (who is no longer associated with Team USA but is a constant fixture), and vice president of USA women's gymnastics Kathy Kelly shouted and motioned for Brestyan to file a protest.
They believed that the judges hadn't accurately tabulated her difficulty score, specifically the connections between a few of her elements on the beam. Brestyan raced around the gym to get a form to fill out in the allotted time. Meanwhile, Raisman congratulated Catalina Ponor of Romania, who was in position for bronze.
Raisman and Team USA anxiously stared at the scoreboard as judges from the International Gymnastics Federation reviewed video of her routine.
"It might be a tie," Raisman said: a repeat of the all-around finals. Raisman had tied Russia's Aliya Mustafina, which in the all-around means the lowest score was dropped. Raisman, long seen as the rock of the team, had narrowly missed an individual medal because of the tiebreaker rule. She was worried it would happen again.
And Raisman was right, it was a tie. But her coach quickly reminded her she would end up on the podium because the execution scores alone, not the difficulty, were judged in the tiebreaker.
The scoreboard flashed the official result. The tiebreaker went in Raisman's favor this time, and she received a bronze medal.
It was perhaps one of the longest moments of Raisman's career. But it was not the first time this chaotic scene had played out in the Olympics - or questions about the accuracy of judging had come up.
For years, debate has stirred about how accurately sports can be judged, especially in the Olympics. Many have argued that everything is subjective. And in a sport that comes down to hundredths of a point, that can be everything. As Raisman knows, it can also be the difference between being an Olympic medalist and missing out entirely.
That is part of the reason the inquiry system Raisman's coach used was instituted.
"The inquiry was introduced along with FIG's new scoring system following the 2004 Olympics, where judging disasters marred the men's all-around and high bar finals. (The inquiry replaced an appeals process, which had a far lower rate of overturning scores at the 2004 Olympics, at least)," Nick Zaccardi wrote in a Sports Illustrated column explaining the system, using the acronym for the International Gymnastics Federation. "The FIG did away with the perfect 10 and redid its 'code of points' system with the more complicated two-pronged approach. The benefits of the change included eliminating potential bias in judging, the FIG said in 2005. Video review was also introduced."
Team USA's use of the inquiry in Raisman's case was the third in gymnastics during this Olympics alone.
Japan made a similar request over Kohei Uchimura's score on the pommel horse during the men's team finals.
Uchimura, one of the best men's gymnasts and a hero in his home country, was seen as a lock to propel Japan to a medal. But after his score was shown on the screen, it seemed Japan would be left off the podium. The scores placed China with the gold, Great Britain with the silver and Ukraine with the bronze. Japan, like Raisman, sat in fourth.
As commentators on NBC wondered whether "the greatest gymnast of our time dropped the ball," the camera quickly panned to the judges' table, where a Japanese coach was seen with money in his hand, filling out an inquiry form. FIG requires a payment of $300 to file an appeal. If the score is overturned, the money is returned.
Japan claimed that Uchimura had also been overlooked in the scoring: specifically, that he did connect a handstand before his dismount.
Japan challenged the score given to gymnast Kohei Uchimura on the pommel horse during the men's team final.
An announcement came in Japan's favor. It was one that greatly altered the standings. Ukraine was left without a medal, and the host nation was now taking home the bronze, something the home crowd was clearly displeased about.
During the men’s all-around competition, Germany's Fabian Hambuchen's pommel horse score was also protested, but the committee rejected the appeal.
The nature of scoring in gymnastics, similar to figure skating, has been debated as largely subjective despite attempts to correct concerns through recent FIG changes.
That's something Romania's Ponor, who lost out on a medal after Raisman's challenge, and her coach now know all too well. Ponor's face went from excitement to disappointment in the course of a few minutes. Coach Yuliy Kuksenkov who said after the ruling that "life is life," perhaps best capturing many people's thoughts regarding the routine disagreements about scoring.
"In athletics, 100 meters is just 100 meters," Sports Illustrated quoted him as saying. "Sometimes in gymnastics, it's 95 meters or 105 meters."
It's not all about gymnastics, though.
A scoring controversy in fencing last week left South Korea's Shin A-Lam in tears - and left her refusing to leave the piste. She appealed to judges over a delayed and stuck clock that had resulted in extra points being awarded to Britta Heidemann of Germany. Had she left the piste during the appeal, it would have signaled she agreed with the judges.
YouTube: A Lego re-enactment with the play-by-play, created by The Guardian
The South Korean was photographed sitting in the same spot for more than 70 minutes as she awaited the appeal and then refused to leave after it was handed down. She was finally escorted off the stage, sobbing.
South Korea's Shin A-Lam was finally escorted off in tears.
"I did everything I could," Shin told Reuters after the match. "They said 'your fencer has to continue the match,' so I had to accept the decision."
Accepting the decision may be part of it, but so is being prepared and willing to fight for the scores you believe are deserved.
U.S. gymnast Jordyn Wieber's coach told Sports Illustrated that he kept a filled-out inquiry form with him, just in case.
But as Raisman, Brestyan, Ponor, Uchimura, Shin and others know: It's an imperfect two-sided coin. You have to know when to make the call and be able to do it quickly in gymnastics, and sometimes you just fall on the wrong side of the ruling.
"I agree with the system," Brestyan said, according to Sports Illustrated. "The system sometimes helps. Sometimes not."
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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I understand that the Olympics was created so that Nations will not go to war again, though we had WWII. People who initiated the Olympics said to let nations settle differences through sports. As long as athletes understand each others, though sometimes despise judges, medals are just secondary reward. The five circles symbolizes unity of the continents. Its fun, it's peace. Let's enjoy the games.
The Olympics is about who wins the most medals so that they get the most endorsement back home. Period. There is nothing in the Olympics right now for nations to forge friendships. Those days are long gone .
The South Korean girl is soooooo ugly, She deserved to lose. Can't blame the judge on this one. UGLY!!!
Man, why do you watch fencing? If it the looks you want, go back to your swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.
Really? This is your contribution to the article? This is why you have no friends.
wow that's messed up, last time i checked the olympics was about sports, not a beauty contest. i think you're watching the wrong channel buddy...
What do looks have to do with athletic ability? You have an UGLY mindset!
you are just rude and nasty.
agree!
Spoken like someone who has no one and has to pleasure himself every night.
Why don't you be bold enough to post a solo shot of your face. I bet it's equally disturbing, if not more.
If snorting coke were a Olympic Event the U.S would win Gold.
and now random attempts at thoughts....by Davd
Columbia.
Perhaps the olympics are an "outdated" concept, but perhaps as a world society we need them to help keep (or bring) us together. Yes, there are those who need to find something to hate and pick on a high profile target, but I truly believe there are 4X as many who had a tear in their eye when Gabby won the gold. It's really about caring about something other than yourself or your motives and caring about the big picture of mankind.
Athletes are people who care only about glory and money. Does nothing to starving people in Africa or sick people in Haiti. Hope? Aaaaah! that's already taken by religions– but nothing delivered.
Religious people are more likely to :
1. to be Poor
2. Under educated or ill-educated
3. More likely to have accidents
4. More likely to fall ill and have complications
5. Living in an under developed country
6. More likely to lie and cheat
7. More likely to live in a corrupt country( Brazil. Colombia. Pakistan, India, USA)
Than an atheist( living in Sweden, Norway, Finland
The agony of defeat.
Monster's right, the Korean got burned. Instead of playing for the gold, she was sent home without a medal, not even a bronze. That should have been an easy fix. What's wrong with giving her a gold, too, if they don't want to award her the win or a do-over? It's not worth the silver medal that's covered in a layer of gold to see someone cheated out of something they've worked hard for a one time chance of fame and glory and then to have it robbed by a faulty clock.
No doubt.
Unless it's the clock or the measuring tape, it's not a sport. It's a beauty contest, and the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I'm really disappointed in the decision on the fencing. It was clearly the time-keeper's fault. After such a huge insult and refusal to admit error, they offered her a consolation medal. That's like one of those stupid participation ribbons you get in grade school. She refused the offer, and rightfully so. The decision to not admit to error at the time when it MATTERED was horrible.
Buhloney. THe korean girl was too ugly to win.
When Americans wonder why so many people around the world hate them, they need look no further than the pathetic comments at sites like this. So sad. So pathetic. So embarassing to be an American.
Yes, that's why their is a huge line too get out and go to other countries.
You can't judge a whole nation (comprised of mostly immigrants from ALL over the world) based on the comments of ignorance on CNN...otherwise S.Korea would be percieved (from this article anyway) as a bunch of whiners who can't accept defeat.
Ah of course – because ONLY Americans make ugly comments right???
Well they didn't call the Canadians for a red card in the box like they should have so...like I said we have enough trouble with sports with goals and rules and a real winner...the reason Soccer has never really taken in the US, we will not put up with the ref telling us who won. The Soccer team who really got screwed this year is the Honduran men...the refs gave the game to Brazil
Have you never watched an American football game? Do you not listen to American football fans complain endlessly about referees deciding the outcomes of games by calling flags on plays unevenly? I seem to remember some rather spectacularly disagreed with calls in recent Super Bowl Games.
Swell_swell – I agree. Bad officiating goes on in all sports. Anyone who thinks that it is only related to soccer or gymnasitcs obviously forgets that routinely people complain about the umps in baseball games, along with the refs in hockey and basketball. During the LA Kings Stanley Cup winning game against the NJ Devils – the refs completely missed a hit that should have been called against the Kings, which would have resulted with the penalty not being called on the Devils just about a minute later. Many people believe the refs handed the Stanley Cup to the Kings with that non-call against the Kings and the ultimate call against the Devils.
Eliminating "judgement" sports will not solve errors in the Olympics. Case in point, the US women's soccer "victory" over Canada
My guess is these countries esp China are raised to devote their lives from early childhood to winning at their sport chosen for them and are harshly punished when mistakes are made. These countries athletes are probably terrified of the physical reprecussion upon returning home and China must do everything to be the top winner or face humilitation in the eyes of the world. America is just great because we don't instill fear – we're just natural born athletes with a desire to win for pride in our country.
The Olympics are a joke. I'd rather watch a turtle marathon than any Olympic event.
but really, how can they mess up the stopwatch in the Olympics? but since they did, they should've allowed a re-do. Last time I checked, 1 second is pretty damn short and the Gold belongs to her.
Hey c'mon Shin, there's no crying in fencing. If your match depends on you making the next touch, make the next touch, don't blubber if your opponent makes it instead. Woman up – don't cry like a little girl. Don't look for someone else to blame. It's your responsibility to vanquish your opponent. So vanquish already. Are we supposed to feel sorry for you because your opponent made the next touch? I don't think so. The histrionics play well for the media but embarrass us fencers.