Agree? There's Too Much Overreacting on Cheng Fei's Fall. Paul Hamm Fell Off the Entire Mat in '04 & Won GOLD?

Question

Does anyone else agree there is way too much overreacting and hatred toward China just because Cheng Fei got a medal, and Alicia Sacramone did not?

What about in the Athens games in 2004 when American Paul Hamm completely fell off the mat on the vault, and still managed to get GOLD? Why is nobody defending the Korean Kim Dae-Eun who got silver there, who missed gold by 0.012 of a point? Is it because he's not American? Cheng Fei just fell on her knees. Hamm nearly hit the judges' table.

Answer 1

I totally agree. I think people are thinking about this way too much. sure it wasn't the best vault by Cheng Fei but she took a risk. Plus it isn't possible for the judges to just look at the landing. She gotten a better score because she took the risk.

I think a lot of people are upset because of pride and not knowing the scoring procedure.

Answer 2

I think a lot of people on here think even if the US gymnasts just did somersaults across the mat they should win...if they looked harder into how they are scoring gymnastics this year maybe they would understand.

Answer 3

I don't really understand the point you are trying to make by posting about Paul Hamn falling in 2004. Any time someone doesn't even complete their vault like Cheng did they should not earn a medal at the OLYMPICS! That goes for Paul Hamn and anyone else out there who screws up as badly as she did. A performance like that is not medal worhy no matter who it is or what system is in place. Just because Paul Hamn won gold without earning it four years ago doesn't excuse what happened. Both instances are examples of mistakes and an obviously flawed judging system.

Answer 4

They probably don't know too much about the scoring system. I can imagine, if they got poor commentators, that it would be confusing.

There is more payoff if they do a difficult routine and fail than if they do an easy one and succeed.

Answer 5

To the above comment, I don't see Alicia attemping Cheng Fei's vaults...jeez..maybe cauz she can't do them.

If Cheng Fei can do vaults that Alicia can't, she should place better than her. And...obviously you know nothing about the judging system

Answer 6

Nobody is responding to this because we live in America. I'm sure that Korea is angry about that. Still, he probably had a big start value if they even had that scoring system back then. Are you talking about the Vault finals or the All Around from 04?

Answer 7

Bias reporting, get the former Romania coach off the air.   He is a bum.

There is a system in placed, don't judge the judges.  It is what it is.

The Chinese is not over scored.  All sour grapes.  That all past after Nastia won the gold and the troll won the silver.   Anyone else thinks she looks like a troll?

Answer 8

I think that this is more comparable to the tie on the uneven bars. It's because they erred on the side of Paul Hamm, and so there were a bunch of commentators defending the system. When America loses, the system is corrupt/wrong. That's just the way it is.

The Federation of International Gymnastics asked Hamm to return his medal and admitted that there had been an error.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/...