And today, 12-year old 16-year old Chinese gymnast He Kexin won gold over Nastia Liukin based on an obscure tiebreaking rule. The two received the same score from the judges, but He won a tiebreak because an Australian judge apparently was watching a different competition.
Every judging break seems to have gone China's way during these Olympics. I'm not suggesting a conspiracy, I just think that judges are humans who are influenced by big names, fans and other external factors. Oh, and they're also terrible. Judged events will always be viewed with skepticism by those who lose for this reason, particularly those who lose to a member of the home delegation. (Think Roy Jones Jr. at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.)
It is because of this skewed inconsistency that Fourth-Place Medal introduces The Real 2008 Medal Count. Our medal count will tally medals won in sports decided on the field of play, not by a judge in a teal blazer.
The judged Olympic events we will ignore for our tally are: boxing, diving, equestrian, gymnastics, judo, taekwondo, trampoline and wrestling. We debated whether to include boxing, wrestling and the martial arts in the list, as they can be decided by competitors. However, because the judging is prone to error and shenaningans, we will include it.
The Real 2008 Medal Count
China: 22 gold; 11 silver; 11 bronze
United States: 21 gold; 19 silver; 21 bronze
As you can see, in the events where medals are determined by competitors rather than judges, the gold medal gap between China and the U.S. is greatly narrowed, and the total medal count is an American runaway. Counting the judged events, China has a commanding lead in golds. Hmmm... Nope, nothing fishy about that!
- added August 19, 2008
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THE 12 year old is crossed off in the official article...making the joke apparent...here it didn't translate so well. ha.
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Didn't see it, but I reckon biased judging comes with the territory.
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- damnneargenius
- 5 months ago
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i saw it....its rediculous and so are IOC rules because they cant challenege the judges decisions unless the start value is set wrong
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- SilenceNoMore
- 5 months ago
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Thats why I dont watch those events! I guess I do watch if its on, but the best sporting events are always decided by the atheletes on the field, not judges.
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Disqualify China, they cheated. It makes you wonder, with all of these 13 year olds competeting, how many 13 year olds the IOC judges and staff get for turning their back to this obvious cheating and mistakes.
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well, i havent read the article, but remember that gymnasts who do routines with higher degrees of difficulty have higher points to their advantage. so conceivably someone could not stick a landing but still win because their routine had a higher degree of difficulty than someone who did stick their landing.
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- stephenthomson
- 5 months ago
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It happened last night too, with a tie, and China once again came out ahead, how? The rules are ignorant and the officals/judges are idiots.
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- Sons_Of_Liberty
- 5 months ago
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this is why competing makes me cringe inside.
im not a team player. lol
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- MissAmanda
- 5 months ago
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You didn't know that china wins everything if they don't they chop off their limbs.. at least thats what I have heard
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I agree with the girl landing on her knees. I would be mad if some girl who did worse than me got a better score. But, the tie breaking was legit and they even explained it on TV.
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Shit, I'll say it- CHINA IS CHEATING!!
Friggin' Cheating Chinese Commies.</sarcasm>
But no seriously, something is up. I vote rescore by the Floridian Election Officials from '00 and then again from the Ohio Election Officials of '04. Then we'll get the true scores!
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- reneelikeshugs
- 5 months ago
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It basically boils down to whichever country hosts the Olympics, they hold the edge over the judges. In communist China, that would probably be more than holding an edge. Those judges are scared shitless.
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- Bill_Borrelli
- 5 months ago
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fyi...my comment was a joke....
