gymnastics rules changes, and "tie breakers" - utter BS

[nthfinity]

Enlarge By Daniel J. Powers, USA TODAY Nastia Liukin added to her medal haul with a silver medal on the uneven bars Monday during the event finals.
GYMNASTICS TIEBREAKERWhen the USA's Nastia Liukin and He Kexin of China tied with a score of 16.725 in the uneven bars Monday night, officials had to go to a second tiebreaker to determine the gold medal winner.
The first tiebreaker of averaging four deductions left the two still deadlocked. The next step was to average the three lowest of the four deductions from the six judges (highest and lowest scores thrown out). Since these are deductions, the lower score wins:
He 0.90 0.90 1.0 0.933 Liukin 1.00 1.00 0.90 0.966 Source: International Gymnastics Federation

By Marlen Garcia, USA TODAY
BEIJING — In 1988 Valeri Liukin tied for an Olympic gold medal on the high bar for the Soviet Union.
Fast forward 20 years.

UNEVEN BARS MEDALS: China, USA, China
His daughter, Nastia, tied for first for the USA in the women's equivalent — the uneven bars — in an Olympic gymnastics individual final Monday at the National Indoor Stadium.
Only this time, there was a series of tie-breakers in place and Nastia Liukin settled for silver against China's He Kexin. It was Liukin's fourth medal of these Olympics. If she gets another in Tuesday's balance beam final, she will tie Shannon Miller for most by an American gymnast in an Olympics. Miller won five in 1992.
The competition between Liukin and He was so close that the first tie-breaker still left them deadlocked. A second formula was used, and He had fewer deductions on execution. The difference between the gymnasts was ever so slight. It came down to 33/1000ths of a point.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: France | Australia | New York Times | China | Beijing Olympics | Soviet Union | Olympian | Ukrainian | Nastia Liukin | Pole | International Gymnastics Federation | Yang Wei | Shannon Miller | He Kexin | Jiang Yuyuan | National Indoor Stadium | Valeri Liukin
"It's unfortunate they had to change the rules (on ties) but ... it's nothing you can control," Liukin said. "I have four medals now, so I'm tied with my dad."
Her father won two Olympic gold medals, one with his Soviet team and the one on high bar, for which he tied teammate Vladimir Artemov. He took silver in all-around and parallel bars. The International Gymnastics Federation began using tie-breakers in the 2000 Olympics.
His daughter has the sport's most desired title — Olympic all-around champion — to her credit but she wants to follow her dad's path and grab a second gold. She took bronze in floor exercise Sunday and led the U.S. to a silver-medal finish last week.
"I have one more chance (Tuesday), and I'm hoping to get that gold that I feel like I missed out a little bit on (Monday)," she said.
Liukin, the second of eight finalists, said she was confused through most of the competition, unsure where she stood in the standings. Initially, she believed He, the first finalist, outscored her because the scoreboard had He first and Liukin second.
Then Liukin noticed they both scored 16.725. She was reluctant to ask about it because she didn't want to be presumptuous about winning a medal with other gymnasts still competing.
"I still don't understand how they broke the tie," Liukin said. Her father also was unaware of the formula and said there was no way to protest. "I just hope they know what they're doing," he said.
Liukin said a minor mistake when she released from the high bar to the low bar "definitely cost me the gold."
She looked a little slow through the routine, especially compared with the fluidity of He. But Liukin stuck her dismount; the Chinese gymnast crossed her legs on her landing.
He, bronze medalist Yang Yilin of China and their teammate, Jiang Yuyuan, are embroiled in a controversy over their ages. The New York Times and Associated Press have evidence those gymnasts could be younger than the required minimum age of 16, but the FIG has verified ages with the gymnasts' passports.
He faced questions relating to her age in a news conference after her victory, but she never wavered. "Those who know me know I'm 16," she said.
For Valeri Liukin, there was more significance in the disparity of deductions given by Australian judge Helen Colagiuri. The judge gave his daughter a deduction of one point, compared with seven-tenths of a point for He. That's a big difference in gymnastics.
Valeri Liukin said his daughter has a history of being scored lower by Australian judges in world meets. "I'm very disappointed with that," he said.
His daughter has the most important medal, he said, referring to the all-around title. "We're trying to be happy with that," he said. "That's what I'm trying to think about."
More individual finals
China men 5-for-5: Chen wins rings
Chen Yibing extended China's perfect run of gold in men's gymnastics by winning the still rings competition.

MEN'S RINGS MEDALS: Chinese go 1-2, Ukrainian wins bronze
The two-time world champion was perfectly still on nearly every move Monday and blew away the field of eight. China has won all five men's events at the Beijing Olympics.
All-around champion Yang Wei wasn't nearly as impressive as in his previous rings routines, but his strength and steadiness earned him a silver. Oleksandr Vorobiov of Ukraine took bronze.
Five-time Olympian Jordan Jovtchev went first, and soon was gone. After he missed a handstand, the five-time Olympian knew he wasn't getting a fifth Olympic medal. Jovtchev left the arena moments later.
Poland's Blanik wins men's vault in tiebreaker
Leszek Blanik of Poland won a tiebreaker over France's Thomas Bouhail in men's vault at the Beijing Olympics on Sunday night.

MEN'S VAULT MEDALS: Poland, France, Russia
Both scored 16.537, but just as in the women's uneven bars earlier in the evening, the decision went to a tiebreaker that favored the Pole.
Anton Golotsutskov of Russia earned the bronze.
Three-time world champion Marian Dragulescu of Romania had victory in sight after a massive first vault, only to fall on all fours on the landing of his second attempt. The crowd groaned, Dragulescu shrugged and walked away empty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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So, basically; after xx number of years of established meathods of judging the event; they change to come up with "confusing" systems, and eliminate "double" gold or silver medals etc.

Comparing both routines, the Chinese prepubescent 12 year old performed more errors then the American immigrant; and is another case of the "Chinese syndrome" of the Beijing games. Not the first time, and likely not the last.

Now... there are many very legitimate Golds that China has won... however, for many of them, I feel they can have them... the price they pay to get them is not worth the cost. Training from the age of Three, falsifying international passports, and creating forced servitude for the "people" to represent the country. Oppression to the people, oppression to the athletes.

[unwilling]

not to mention the psychological effects on the judges from the home turf...

[HeilSvenska]

The women's uneven bars was an absolute BS. I just watched it and wow. IOC and FIG failed big time. Why are Australians, Brazilians, South Africans, and New Zealanders judging gymnastics in the first place? And how can you actually do a calculative tie-breaking after they already gave the scores?

And that's before I get into subjective stuff like how the Chinese gymnast didn't even stick the landing and still got gold.

Common sense has left these people, and the athletes have to suffer.

[nthfinity]

Olympics / Gymnastics
Tie creates extra twist for Chinese gymnast

He Kexin marched into the news conference for gold-medal winners fashionably late Monday night. Already on the podium were China's rings...
By Diane Pucin
Los Angeles Times

BEIJING — He Kexin marched into the news conference for gold-medal winners fashionably late Monday night. Already on the podium were China's rings winner, Chen Yibing and Poland's vault winner, Leszek Blanik.
Kexin pulled up a chair. The 16-year-old from China had been in doping control, being tested after she won the uneven bars by virtue of a tiebreaking procedure over Nastia Liukin from Parker, Texas.
Liukin, 18, now has four medals — gold in the individual all-around, two silvers and a bronze — and she will go for a fifth medal Tuesday on the balance beam, where she is the defending world champion.
Both He and Liukin received identical scores of 16.725, but He was named the winner because she received a lower average deduction (0.933) than Liukin (0.966). Ties are no longer allowed in Olympics gymnastics.
Although there is evidence that Kexin is only 14 and thus would be ineligible for the Olympics — a story published by several Chinese media last November quoted a Chinese sports federation official as calling Kexin a 13-year-old 2012 Olympic hopeful — she is now a double-gold medal winner and an unflappable competitor both on and off the arena floor.
When He arrived at her news conference, she was asked three times about the discrepancies in her reported age.
"This is not important," she said. "I don't care what others say. I'm only focused on my gymnastics. I am 16, that's why I'm here. If I wouldn't be, I couldn't be here. That is all."
It was the numbers on the scoreboard that were confusing Monday.
The tiebreaking formula is so convoluted, former U.S. coach Bela Karolyi didn't understand how it worked and even the partisan Chinese crowd at the National Indoor Stadium seemed subdued in its reaction to He receiving the gold medal on the podium.
Until after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, double or even triple medals were awarded if there were tied scores. Bruno Grandi, president of the international gymnastics federation, wishes that were the case.
"If you have the same score," he said, "you should get the same medal."
But Grandi said that after 1996, the International Olympic Committee said judged sports needed a tiebreak procedure, and Monday night it was used to decide two gold medals. In the men's vault, Blanik won gold over France's Thomas Bouhail in a tiebreak after both had an average of 16.537 for their two vaults.
On the uneven bars, He performed first on the uneven bars and flew through her routine with high speed. She grabbed the bar resolutely on every release move but did have a small crossover step on her landing.
Liukin came second. She had a slow moment on a move from the high bar to the low bar, but for the first time since she started doing this high-difficulty routine, Liukin punctuated the finish with a double twisting landing done minus even the twitch of a toe.
Her score flashed up on the board, 16.725, same as He. But He had a (1) in front of her name and Liukin had a (2). The tiebreaking procedure is programmed into the scoreboard computer.
Liukin said her routine wasn't perfect. "It wasn't my best," Liukin said. "I definitely had some mistakes."

[HeilSvenska]

Hmmm.

Passport says she's 16. Google Cache of deleted site says 14. Aug 20, 2008 00:22 The powers that be in China are finding out the hard way that it's impossible to delete something from the internet. You may as well try to take pee out of a swimming pool. Amid accusations that gold-medal winning gymnast He Kexin is younger than the minimum age of 16, an article in China Daily which lists her as 14 has mysteriously been deleted (old link). But of course you can't un-pee, can you? China Daily should know as much, and their article (dated May 23, 2008 in the URL) is still fully intact in Google Cache. Click here to check it out yourself, of see the screenshot below. While I'm not saying that Chinese Sports officials should come under fire for allowing such as young girl to compete (that's an entirely different debate), I do think they should be taken to task for forging a passport saying that she's 16. Whatever happens, it's a terribly unfortunate situation, for He Kexin more than anyone else. China Media Project has an excellent post providing Chinese language newspaper clippings which also show that He is 14 this year. Cheers to commenter Spleunker on CMP for pointing out this English language one. http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/littlered...7&scid=rvhm_ms

[philip]

She doesn't seem 16, but at least she is a girl, so 10 years of capitalism has gotten us somewhere.