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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And you are from where??
Romania's gymast Ponor should have won the gold medal in the individual floor event on Tuesday. She flawlessly performed a highly technical, artistically stunning, and well-executed routine, with a higher maximum difficullty rating than Ali's routine, and should have gotten a higher score than the American gymast, Ali Raisman. Her coach should have protested the score, just in case the judges made a mistake, and didn't give her full credit for executing all the technical elements of her routine – maybe they didn't use the correct maximum difficulty score for her routine. She did a perfect routine and performed more difficult tumbling passes – she stuck all her landings, she was artistically stunning, and did a much more superior routine, far more difficult than any of the other gymasts, and had no errors, period. She had a higher difficulty score (her routine had a maximum score value above a 17). Her routine was perfect – I don't see how the judges could justify taking 1.0 in deductions on her routine. I think there is a chance the judges didn't score her correctly, or they made an error. She should have been the gold medal winner – her routine should have outscored Ali's routine – it should not have been close, and certainly not lower than Ali's. I was rooting for the Americans to win gold, but the Ponor did a perfect routine, with a higher difficulty level. Does anyone else think Ponor should have won the individual gold medal on the individual floor event?
Ponor did not have a higher difficulty. Her difficulty score was a 6.2 to Ali's 6.5.
To those saying that Ponor's floor routine was better than Raisman's: Raisman's routine was a much higher difficulty level than Ponor's. That's why the score was much higher. More difficult moves = higher scores. If Ponor had attempted the same moves at the same difficulty level as Aly, then you might be able to make an argument. Aly rightly deserved the Gold.
So true....their media fails to address even the hint of a controversy, except to say FIFA may discipline the Canadian women....what a bunch of bullies and cowards. Can't admit that their win was not earned and then, in true American style, gloats. Doesn't Hope Solo realize she actually insulted her own team when she said the Americans made Sinclair look good?! True to American form, not too bright either.
In a sport where human judges/officials are involved it is inevitable that mistakes and wrong judgment will occur.
You just only hope that it does not happen to you.
I'm not sure where you are getting your info from Olympic viewer. Aly's floor difficulty level was 6.5. Ponor's was 6.2.
I have no clue how the ref can sleep at night making a 'handball' call when all these women were doing were covering their 'tender bits' with their arms. There was no 'ball to hand' contact. The ball was kicked directly into the chest which was covered by their arms. Absolute crooked biased call.
Stupid South Korean crying!! Maybe she really threw the match like a couple of her other friends.
Bob – I doubt you have even the guts to hold that fence – let alone fight anyone.
She was robbed. No question. It was a disgraceful call by the judges.
Shame on you Bob. This woman trained for years for this moment, was let down by the judges, and showed her emotions. Would you call your daughter stupid for crying at a moment like this, if she had the talent to even be on the stage in the first place? Probably not, all because she is Korean. So shame on you.
She most certainly did not throw the match. She was up by one and only had to avoid being hit for one second before she won the match. However, upon later inspection they found a 15 year-old volunteer had failed to start the clock, giving her opponent extra time to hit her. She deserved a medal and the judges were wrong to reject her appeal.
The staff should do a better time of running their equipment as well. This is the Olympics, not a local club tournament.
these are kids, for the most part, and they have been preparing, what for a kid is, a long long time for their usually once chance at an Olympic medal. So she cried, it's called an 'emotional release'. Leave her alone.
"Horrible refereeing" at the US-Canada soccer match? You mean where the refs didn't send off Tancredi despite her 7 fouls and stomping on the head of a US player in the box? It was a tough game but Canada was beaten. Clearly their strategy was to complain all the way – complaining even before the match started about physical play and then denigrating the refs afterwards, despite the dirty play of the Canadians. I hope FIFA reviews the match and sanctions Tancredi.
Lots of non-soccer players commenting about the US-Canada women's game. The keeper was warned by the linesman for delaying the game after holding the ball for up to 18 seconds on occasion. Once warned, holding it for another 10 seconds clearly was risking the (rare) call against the keeper. But it demonstrates the arrogance of the Canadians who came in complaining and protesting that the only way they would lose was if the US cheated or if the refs called it one way. That blindly led them to cause their own problems (though they actually got away with a lot more than they should have.)
So Max Riley. Where is your proof that the Canadians said these things? The Canadians came in as the underdogs, against a team that had beaten them 5 previous times in a row. So they never said anything like that, and you are just a moronic forum troll who makes up stuff in order to have himself heard. Fox news watcher no doubt.
You have no clue. If you think that was a fair game then you better hope you aren't actually a soccer player like you claim to be. US didnt deserve the win, plain and simple – and guess what FIFA agrees and that's why the suspended the ref for the rest of the games. I'll take FIFAs opinion over yours any day.
Max Riley. It was WIDELY reported ( and not just by Canadian medio outlets ), that there was NO warning given to the Canadian goalkeeper before the penalty was awarded. Secondly, the ensuing penalty kick for a 'handball' was so blatantly obvious that it shouldn't have been called ( ie the 'hand to ball, not ball to hand' guideline).
You can buy a house for 10K in Detroit, but then who'd really want to live there. (I know, I used to live there, but my consulting company had to pay me big bucks to go. Still I left after 6 months, need you ask why??? Prolly not if you have been there.
Max: Yes, Canadian blogs' vitriolic attacks on the game did not take into account their goalie was, according to eyewitnesses and other refs, delaying the game at least twice. McLeod (the goalie) was warned at halftime not to delay the game. They did. As some Canadians have said on the online newspapers, we were ahead consistently but just could not put it away. If the U.S. loss, there would be no Canada-bashing, but that is a fairly common affliction here.
There are lots of corruptions going on. Some of the judges can be bought cheaply for 10-20K. In 3rd world countries, that's enough money to by a house.
lejaune: The judge was from Norway, which has a higher living standard than Canada. You're stretching a bit. I'm embarrassed as a Canadian.
This is why I watch only track and field (where the opinions and biases of grey-brained men don't hold as much sway). To be honest, I'd rather watch Futurama re-runs.
I love life.
The South Korean was cheated, they need to fix it.
As an American with no dog in this fight. You are right Bubba North Shin A-Lam the South Korean fencer did get screwed.
For those of you talking about the US vs. Canada game the referee was not suspended FIFA has come out and denied those allegations however they are looking into penalizing Canada.
Any person with even the slightest bit of common sense who watched the women's soccer game between U.S. and Canada saw officiating which appeared closer to a fix than incorrect rulings. That FIFA didn't reprimand the ref is in your opinion confirmation of good officiating only serves to announce to the world that you are lacking intelligence and or extremely biased. The olympics are supposed to further the cause of goodwill and sportsmanship ... not alienate the world's populations to resent competing countries.
don't forget for the Canada vs US soccer game, the ref may not have been sanctioned YET, and the possible sanctioning of Canada is for comments made by the Canadians AFTER the game, not for the game. Also there are currently allegations that the Norwegian ref may have been under suspension, she has not been picked to ref the Gold or Bronze games. Every international paper (US included) has stated that Canada was robbed and yet an entire article by CNN with no mention of this injustice. Figures!