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.
| Advertising practices | Advertise with us | About us | Work for us | Help
How about FIFA and the mistakes made by the Norwegian referee that robbed the Canadian women's soccer team? Wombaugh should be ashamed of herself.
If you knew "soccer" or rather "footy" you would realize that 1. Wambach had nothing to do with the handball call and 2. An inadvertent handball is still a handball if it changes the direction of the ball. Thirdly, that poor officiating was extended to both sides of the US/ Canada match.
Learn to spell before you make stupid comments
And Tancredi shouldn't? She intentionally stomped on Lloyd's head. I'd say physical assault is a whole lot worse than counting aloud.
Agreed!!
What did Wambach do to be ashamed of? The keeper was warned before the incident, and the handball was clearly the right call. Sure you don't see the delay of game call made often, but if you are warned and you keep not following the rules as they are written then you should probably expect something like that to happen.
Does that include missing the Canadian player stomping on the US player's head which should have resulted in Canada being down to 10 players for 35 minutes in a 1-1 game? I'm pretty sure that had a much bigger effect than the handball call.
wambach is only as good as she is because of her size. big deal. i think Rapione (spelling? she wears 15) is a real soccer player, not some big ogre who only scores because of her size against smaller female opponents.
What about Tancredi having at least 5 yellow violations that if called would have meant Canada plays with 10.
The strange part was coach Brystan was clearly heard saying, "What for?" when Martha, Bela and the US official were shouting from the spectator seats to file a complaint. One of the Olympic official got the form and gave a pen to get the complaint lodged in time! He would have had to face the music if he didn't do it in time.
No wonder their are always fights between parents at little league games. Grow up American coaches and have some dignity you arent the best coaches in the world !! Embarrassing really.
There is a huge difference between sports and events. My definition, and solely mine, of a sport is one that pits one team or individual in a contest against another team or individual where the outcome is definitive...i.e. who scores more or less points or goals, who runs faster, who throws farther etc... Rules are always involved in sports and someone has to call the game; however, the fact is if a person or team had scored more or given up less than their opponent the they would have won. In the case of the women's soccer match between the USA and Canada, a judgement call resulted in a penalty kick. Had the goalie blocked the kick, nothing would have been said, Canada would have won and the US team couldn't argue that they scored more goals.
An "event" is something entirely different...the winner is solely based on a "judge's" interpretation of how well an athlete performed a particular move, jump, spin, flip etc... Anytime a human has to "judge" a performance, bias will factor into the decision. It may or may not be intentional and it may or may not be factual, but we are human and everything we see, hear, say and do is biased in one way or another. Until humans are taken out of the "judging" roll, these events can never really be considered in the same class as Olympic "sports"...an obvious biased opinion.
By the way...I love to watch the gymnast compete because they are truly exceptional athletes. It is just sad that someone else besides them decides their fate.
Skew, your post is way too smart and logically written for CNN. Nonetheless, well said.
It has got to be said if an american doesnt win a medal they cry foul! All the time, its quite embarassing for the rest of the world to watch. American athletes are exceptionally gifted, and as can be seen by the medal count world beaters but please when you get beaten, dont say it was a fix or they must be taking drugs accept defeat and move on, the world is a big pace and their are better people out there!!!!!
you must be from a country that s u c k s.
l o s e r !
enough with the anti-america sentiments. grow up
Did you even watch the event? I do not claim to be a judge of gymnastics but even I could tell that Ponor stumbled or stepped out of sync 5 different times whereas Raisman only had 2 missteps. A wrong, no matter how small, should be questioned because if it isn't, then you will end up with the crap they had with the figure skating judges years ago.
"Sometimes in gymnastics, it's 95 meters or 105 meters." This is 100% TRUE. I'm a synchronized swimmer from Quebec and many of the times we competed we were judged unfarely only because we were the "English" club and all the judges were French. Stupid politics.
I say they should stick to games like darts. No judgment needed. Where the dart lands is where the score is.
Agree the Olympics are pretty much a joke but you would have to be really nieve to think otherwise. Probably the only honest Olympics was the very very first one.
There have been many bad offociating this Olympics just as any.
- Canadian women's soccer team was robbed of the final game appearance thanks to the Norwegian ref.
- Iranian boxer was disqualified thanks to the German official. He was later banned from officiating.
- Iranian wrestler lost yesterday to the French wrestler. He would have gone to the medal match if not for the terrible officiating.
These are just a few to add to this. Terrible reporting.
Anything that is judged to determine a winner should not be in the Olympics. Judges make mistakes, as well as have bias.
Agreed. Any event that requires a panel of judges to determine the score, needs to be eliminated.
I felt so bad for Ponor.
Ponor gives me a b0ner
Ann2323, then surely you noticed the handball that was missed on the American team? Delay of game? And then, the Americans are moaning about this score and that score and the Canadian Christine makes a comment and FIFA threatens to take her and McCloud out of the game for Bronze...how pathetic
Typical of Americans, cry when it doesn't benefit them, but when it does, just shove it under the rug. No one mentioned that the 6 second rule has never been called like it was against Canada. No warnings, no yellow card, as you usually see in real soccer.
typical anti-american bashed without facts. the linesman warned both keepers before the kickoff of the second half about the 6-second rule. Hope Solo followed it but the Canadian goalie did not. The head referee delegated the responsibility to the linesman who told both goalies. And so now the canadian team is saying that the head referee had to do it. please. the call sucked big time. i understand that, but to ignorantly make your dumb post to fulfill your anti-american agenda is ghey.
and the head-stomp was what... hockey?
At what point of the game did the referee give a warning to the Canadian goalie. The linesmen warned her but not the referee who has to make that call. Considering the referee has not provided an interview (as per FIFA rules) nor has FIFA released any information to this matter.
In the EURO/World Cup, goalies have been given yellow cards for delay of game but there was no free kick inside the penalty box...in the end Canada gave away the game when they did not cover the near post which resulted in the second goal. Anyway it is a shame that this great game (by both sides) had to end in controversy.
And as for the anti sentiment towards Americans, 3/4 of the world hate Americans because of their ignorance, just like this article depicts and let me guess, none of you have noticed that the only ones who are supportive of this article are yankee homers.
Hey-a Joey, go-a fetch-a me some pasta.
Aww, poor Joey doesn't like the USA. Guess what, the USA doesn't like you. Thanks to the USA, the world's universal language is English. We do not stoop to speak your dirt language. We bow to no one. USA, USA!
I find it sad to see the athletes who win on a reversal celebrate as if they deserve the victory. the german woman who was handed the victory over the South korean woman was rude about it.