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| 2004/8/24 [Recreation/Activities, Politics/Domestic/Crime] UID:33103 Activity:very high |
8/24 Anyone watched men's gymnastics last night? During the booing for
Alexei Nemov, I think I saw American spectators booing for him also.
That was cool.
\_ What happened?
\_ http://csua.org/u/8qn (si.com)
\_ Also http://csua.org/u/8qm (Yahoo! Sports)
\_ well...they should. I was sitting on my couch booing for him.
\_ yeah, that was really cool. Finally, the judges got judged, and
humiliated.
\_ What's more cool is that some of us are willing to set national
pride aside and boo for our rival.
pride aside and boo for our rival. Nemov asking the crowd to
calm down was also a class act.
\_ It was cool and yet uncool. The whole thing is bullshit. They
still ranked him fifth based, as far as I can tell, almost
entirely on the step he took on the landing. While Hamm also
took a step (a smaller one, but still), plus Hamm's routine
appeared less difficult and was shorter. All the sports with
this judge system inevitably run into this crap, pretty much
in every event the TV commentators question some scores.
As a spectator it's just frustrating not having a public
rationale for a score. The rings event where the Greek guy
won over the Bulgarian looked pretty suspicious to me also.
\_ I can understand why the two guys before and after Hamm either tied
him or scored below. Olympics gymnastics are judged by classical
moves. Crowd-pleasing stunts are hard to judge if no one else does
them. Judges are looking for demonstrated control and form along
with strength, and what better way than with classical moves?
The two judges that changed their scores are tards. |
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| csua.org/u/8qn -> sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/writers/08/24/gymnastics.judging/index.html It's all over but the exhibition gala, and herewith, my take on the 2004 gymnastics competition in Athens: The Judging I never thought I'd find a sport in which the judging was more suspect than figure skating, but gymnastics takes the prize. It didn't begin or end with the Yang Tae Young fiasco, in which the Korean's start value in the parallel bars of the men's all-around competition was incorrectly set at 99, perhaps costing him the gold. Earlier, on the eve of the men's preliminaries, International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) officials informed three Americans, Blaine Wilson, Brett McClure and Jason Gatson that the start values on their high bar routines, which they'd been using for two years in international competition, were being lowered from 100 to 99 No explanation for why the sudden change. The kicker, though, was at last night's men's high bar finals, when Alexei Nemov of Russia, the defending Olympic champion, brought the crowd to its feet with a spectacular, crowd-pleasing aerial show. When the judges put up a score that left Nemov out of the medals, 9725, the packed stadium started booing and whistling with a ferocity I've never seen at a gymnastics competition. Greeks, Americans, Italians -- all were incredulous that two of the six judges could have marked him as low as 960 and 965. For more than 10 minutes the booing and whistling continued as Paul Hamm waited to do his routine. Then, incredibly and without explanation, the two judges who'd given Nemov the lowest marks upped their scores to 975. "I've never seen that done before," US assistant coach Myles Avery said afterward. FIG scurried the judges away before anyone could question them, but the impression it left was crystal clear: These officials are flying by the seat of their pants. The Quality Despite a fine showing by the US team in general, the quality of the gymnastics in Athens was below that displayed in the last three Olympics. Carly Patterson, who won the women's all-around competition, is a good, solid performer who deserved her title, but she hasn't carried the sport in any new directions. Her strengths are consistency and mental toughness, not exactly the formula to bring a crowd out of their seats. Her nearest rival in Athens, Russia's Svetlana Khorkina, 25, is at least four years beyond her prime, yet is still the second best women's gymnast in the world. Paul Hamm won the all-around despite falling in the vault. Both Russia and China fielded teams that were old, and looked it. I trace it to the after-effects of the break-up of the Soviet Union. The gymnastics machine that country built between 1980-'92 was the greatest in the history of the sport. They had the best coaches and the best athletes, and their excellence dragged the rest of the sport ahead as others tried to keep pace. America's Shannon Miller never won the Olympic all-around title, as Mary Lou Retton and now Patterson have done, but Miller, who took second in 1992, was the superior gymnast. Her misfortune was having to compete against an incomparable Soviet team led by Svetlana Boguinskaya. Since the breakup of the Soviet machine, the coaches who built it have made a slow and steady exodus to other countries, where they've built other programs. The result, which has been to the benefit of US gymnastics, is a leveling of the playing field, and an overall drop-off in quality. The Media and Paul Hamm Loathe as I am to pile onto my fellow ink-stained wretches of the press, this has not been our finest hour. He's had a fantastic Olympics, two silver medals and the controversial gold. The controversy was not of his making, but some columnists have suggested, quite publicly, that he should solve it by making the grand gesture of returning his medal, as if it were an errant piece of mail. One actually said he should do so in the interest of improving America's image abroad. Let's blame a gymnast for the decline of America's stature in the world. Another prominent figure at a certain national daily opined how such a move would actually enrich Hamm, make him a magnet for endorsements, set himself apart from the rest of the gold medalists from these Games. Never mind that Hamm is not about riches and fame, that he would never have started down this road if that had been the goal. He's worked his life for this, and in his heart he believes he should have won. Yet he has said, and continues to say, if the FIG tells him to give back the gold medal, he'll abide by its ruling. At this point the controversy has already ruined what had been a lifelong dream. His father, Sandy, is beyond disillusionment at the sport he introduced his entire family to. Yet the human element remains lost to the sportswriters, whose work has been made so easy as a result of the Hamm's misery. They pick at the bones of this story like jackals, jabbing at the raw nerves of the innocent athlete instead of going after the officials of the FIG and USA Gymnastics, all of whom have hung Hamm out to dry, leaving him to explain their mistakes and perhaps to arrive at a solution. Last night at the news conference following Hamm's silver medal in the high bar, Hamm was told by a reporter that the FIG said it wouldn't change the results of the competition. Then the zinger: One official had hinted, it was alleged -- off the record -- that it would be a nice gesture if Hamm took it upon himself to return the gold. The media a willing conduit between the rulers of the sport and the athlete, feeding the story, refusing to let it play out on its own terms, hoping to push the button that will get someone to melt down. Destroying the Olympic experience for a great athlete and a good man. |
| csua.org/u/8qm -> sports.yahoo.com/oly/gymnastics/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpY29qbG50BF9TAzk2NjcyOTgwBHNlYwN0aA--?slug=ap-eventfinalsgym&prov=ap&type=lgns Olympics: Gymnastics News Hamm manages silver in surreal gymnastics circus By EDDIE PELLS, AP Sports Writer August 24, 2004 ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The sport known for beauty and grace also has an ugly side. Who knew people could get so fired up about a gymnastics meet? For 10 minutes, the crowd booed and whistled, creating a deafening roar. Paul Hamm, the all-around champion, was forced to sit around and wait, unable to start his routine because of the noise. A rough week in gymnastics finally got to the fans Monday during a bizarre evening. Hamm was able to block out the noise and win a silver medal on high bar. South Korea, who won bronze in the all-around instead of gold last week because of a scoring error. Flying like a circus acrobat, Sexy Alexei'' put together the most daring performance of the 10 men on the high bar. He did six -- count 'em, six -- release moves, four in a row and two more with somersaults as he flew backward over the bar. Sometimes there's a difference between what the people think they saw and what the judges think they saw,'' USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi said. Maybe that's why fans pretty much ignored the big step forward Nemov took when he landed. And maybe that's what started the furor when Nemov's score popped up, a 9725 that ranked him last among the three gymnasts who had gone to that point. Totally unbelievable,'' said John Roethlisberger, a three-time member of the American Olympic team. About five minutes into the booing, the judges huddled and the Malaysian member of the panel, Kin Kin Teh, changed his score. When the meet was over, after Hamm and Cassina pushed him down to fifth, Nemov said he deserved at least a bronze. Maybe just a small mistake and that gives them the opening to put me down. Svetlana Khorkina said she got robbed after Patterson edged her out in the all-around last Thursday. Seeing Nemov join Khorkina as an unlucky loser, Russians were clearly enraged. He earned a 9725 on high bar, not good enough to make event finals, and his score was the first to be challenged at these protest-filled games. South Korea didn't have a big contingent, but it was the flap between Yang and Hamm that has defined these games thus far. With the booing still going, Hamm paced, then sat, then talked to his brother and his coach. The public-address announcer came on and implored the crowd for silence. Nemov just sat there smiling, but minute by minute, the outburst became embarrassing. Finally, Nemov came to the podium and asked for silence. It was a class act by Alexei,'' said Colarossi, who had seen this much booing only one other time -- at a rhythmic gymnastics meet. He brilliantly executed his trademark three straight release moves without any problem, took a slight step forward on the landing and received a 9812, a mark that easily outdistanced Nemov. Next came Cassina, who put on a great performance for another 9812. A complex tiebreaking formula used in gymnastics put him ahead of Hamm and gave him a surprise championship. Yang was the last competitor of the night, but his routine was anticlimactic. He banged his foot on the bar during a release move, almost hit his knees on the landing and finished last of the 10 gymnasts, a result that nobody from any country can protest. After the gymnasts cleared the floor, the judges followed them off and were greeted again by boos. During the medals ceremony, officials put the silver around Hamm and the gesture was greeted with a mix of cheers and boos -- an odd ending to an awfully strange night. Hamm's brother, Morgan, also went on bars and finished fourth, losing in a tie at 9787 to Yoneda. I'd never been in a competition where the crowd was that loud,'' Morgan said. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |