Posted on 08/20/2004 10:55:06 AM PDT by medscribe
South Korea's Olympic delegation has filed an official protest with the FIG (International Federation of Gymnastics) regarding bronze medallist Yang Tae-young's score in the parallel bars during the men's individual all-around final, the Korea Gymnastic Association (KGA) said Friday.
Following a report by International Gymnast Magazine on Thursday, the KGA confirmed the filing but added that it doesn't expect the decision will be repealed. Even though it was the last routine of the high bar that decided the color of Yang's medal, the protest concerned the scoring for his parallel bars routine, his fifth.
The Korean delegation sent the FIG a formal written inquiry on Yang's parallel bars start value, arguing that the routine should have been rated a 10.0 and that it was wrongly set at 9.9 by the judges. If correct, gold medallist Paul Hamm of the United States would have needed at least a 9.889 to beat Yang. Yang did the same composition as in earlier qualifications but they started from 10.0 points at that time.
Yang was in first place after five events with a combined score of 48.336, 0.35 point ahead of Hamm. In the last event of the high bar, however, Hamm scored a 9.837 while Yang earned a 9.475 after making a mistake.
The result dropped Yang to third while Hamm beat out South Korea's Kim Dae-eun by 0.012, the narrowest margin for the gold in Olympic gymnastics history.
Yang earned 9.712 in the parallel bars.
``We consider this case hard to accept and also contrary to the spirit of the clean Olympics, heavily stressed by Jacque Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee. That's why we decided to file the protest," said Shin Bak-jae, manager of the South Korean Olympic team.
No notification or explanation has yet to be received from the FIG, only an informal statement that official conclusions of the competition cannot be changed by protests.
The men's individual all-around final provoked another big controversy in South Korea. Many sports fans are questioning the reliability of the scorings and also have expressed their feelings of disappointment on the judgments both online and offline.
Didn't the South Koreans also whine during the Winter Olympics? Short-track speed skating or some such competition sent them into a tizzy.
When will the Gore attorneys show up to "count every vote"?
Yes, I remember there was a reader forum on the NY Times site for the Winter Olympics. The forum was almost completely overtaken by whiny Koreans. I wish it was archived somewhere. It was quite hilarious. They are beginning to seem like the worst sore losers in the world.
Wasn't it at the Seoul Olympics that Roy Jones Jr. beat the living crap out of the South Korean fighter and lost the decision?
NOw you know another reason why I do NOT watch the Olympics.
Question : Did you know your gymnast was being scored out of a 9.9 before his routine?
IF yes : Did you protest the rating of his routine at that time?
If NO : Tough Shiite!
They also b*tched during the Seoul Olympics when one of their boxers lost a close decision.
Well, unless we are equally whiny losers for filing a protest over the Japanese swimmer's alleged dolphin kick, I'm not sure why we should condemn the South Koreans.
"Let them eat dog"
Yes, it was Seoul where Roy Jones Jnr was robbed by judging, and thus ended the era of subjective judging, and began the era of electronic scoring, with its emphasis contact and target practice over style.
I think pro boxing should take a look at the electronic timing and scoring system. It is so accurate and reliable.
Hey, c'mon! They can't help it if they like the taste of man's best friend!
Actually, the dolphin kick used by the Japanese swimmer was not alleged, it happened. The showed it on replay. Underwater cameras, you know.
He evidently was just told, "that's a no-no, don't do it again" because he didn't do it at all in the next race.
There was discussion by the commentators about all of this the other night.
My daughter is a swimmer. No dolphin kicking on breast stroke is allowed, period. OK on the other three strokes.
My analogy appears apt after all.
Some federations strictly prohibit the use of film (ie replays) to detect such violations. One example is the Federation Internationale de Basketball (FIBA), which has long prohibited television replays from determining the outcome of events. That resulted in a Serbian protest of Argentina's Emmanuel Ginobili's off-balance jumper at the horn which gave the World runner-up the win over the World champions earlier in the week being denied, since FIBA prohibits replay from settling disputes. Ginobili, a member of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs, would have probably seen NBA officials watch the replay on a monitor to determine the validity of the shot.
I don't know FINA (swimming) and its replay policy, but if replay cannot be used to call fouls, then they can only warn, not disqualify.
I don't know about the use of cameras for swim, either. I just meant that we were able to see what happened because of them.
According to another thread I took part in someone said the Japanese swimmer was seen doing the dolphin kick on the Jumbotron and everyone started booing...most likely swim parents, he said, LOL!
They're not Jumbotrons -- they are South Dakota-made Daktronics ProStar units. The Brookings, SD manufacturer has the contract by Swatch to provide all video boards.
But officials at FINA cannot use the spectator-friendly ProStar units. They must officiate from their poolside points, and cannot use replay cameras.
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