Do you think Alicia Sacramone was ripped off of the bronze medal in the women's vault event final?

Question

I have nothing against the Cheng Fei or the Chinese. It's just that Cheng Fei did a major major mistake (landing almost on her knees) and was I think not severely penalized for it. Her vault difficulty is higher than Sacramone's though. But still. The only error on Sacramone's part are 2 small hops in the landing. SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE BRONZE!!!!

Answer 1

Alicia:

Round Difficulty  Execution Total      AVG

1.    6.3         9.45      15.75

2.    5.8         9.525     15.325     15.537

Cheng:

1.    6.5         9.575     16.075

2.    6.5         8.55      15.05      15.562

the final AVG diff is 0.025, looks fair to me. Alicia execution score is not bad at all

Answer 2

i do feel that alicia sacramone was ripped off. She landed both of her vaults and both of them were beautiful, but cheng fei landed ON HER KNEES!!!!!!!!!!! that is so ridiculous that cheng fei got a higher score than her....

Answer 3

I do feel bad for Alicia.  But the scoring was fair.  As you'll see below, Cheng was deducted quite on her 2nd vault (she lost nearly a point and a half). But her difficulty was enough to keep her ahead of Alicia.

Cheng Fei's two vaults:

First Vault:

Difficulty - 6.50

Execution - 9.575

Total - 16.075

Second Vault:

Difficulty - 6.50

Execution - 8.550

Total - 15.050

Average of Cheng Fei's two vaults: 15.562

Alicia's two vaults:

First Vault:

Difficulty - 6.30

Execution - 9.450

Total - 15.750

Second Vault

Difficulty - 5.80

Execution - 9.525

Total - 15.325

Average of Alicia's two vaults: 15.537

Answer 4

People who don't follow gymnastics might think this was a fair score for Cheng Fei. Truth is, it was totally wrong. Not only was the landing faulted the whole vault performance was amazingly bad. She started off hitting the table with uneven shoulders where one hand was in front of the other. She should have had her hands even. Her feet were apart for much of the twist when they should have been together, and finally she missed the landing due to how bad the initial mistakes were. There was no chance for a clean landing from a vault that bad. But they seemed to have only deducted points for the landing, when there should have been many more deductions which include her form and the dynamics during midair.

Answer 5

Your argument  is subjective because they vaults were of two different difficult ratings and Chang difficutl ratings were much higher than Alicia and so for the beneift of the doubt i don't have a problem with Chang beating Alicia.  I used to do judging for the bartender olympics  and we did not have difficult ratings and a lot of the people who won  did very easy routines and did not drop anyting but like i said they did very easy routines and the people who were doing very difficult routines would drop here and there and would score low because they drop but these people who score lower were much better.  So I understand why they put difficult ratings in the olympics but I think the only way to fix  this is that each person have to do a routine that is easy , then medium and then hard and you grade each one on each.

Answer 6

Biased judging - no question

Answer 7

Well, it is difficult to be objective when you have a stake in the pot but I'll try my best. I believe an earlier poster said it best with regards to breaking down the scoring & difficulty.

To draw a comparison to boxing. They say it is the challenger's fight to win, not the champions fight to lose. If the match looks like a draw, the champion with ALWAYS win because the challenger didn't perform 110% - not 100% - to win it. Anything close is not good enough.

So in the  same light with Alicia being the challenger and Cheng Fei, not only a prior champion but having a move in the rulebook named after her, Alicia needed to perform at her best. And she just didnt get it done. Yeah, we wanted her to win but she had a difficult time throughout the games. Never leave your score to subjective chance.  

Answer 8

THEY SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT HER DIFFICULTY DOWN CAUSE OBVIOUSLY SHE DID NOT COMPLETE THE JUMP. IF YOU FAIL TO LAND THAT BADLY YOU SHOULD BE PENALIZED FOR FALLING AND YOUR DIFFICULTY SHOULD BE BROUGHT DOWN THUS MAKING SACRAMONE THRID PLACE FINISHER.

Answer 9

During the competition, I couldn't understand why Alicia kept getting bumped into lower spots, when the errors her competitors were making seemed, no not seemed, WERE obviously more serious than the little hops that Alicia took.  When she got bumped into 4th place after the other 3 gymnasts all made worse landings than she did, I couldn't believe my eyes.  Afterwards, Bela Karolyi confirmed what I thought was a rip-off, and used the exact words I was rolling around in my head as I watched.  Of course both of us are pro-USA, undoubtedly.  In spite of that, I'm still convinced, objectively, that Alicia got ripped off.  Are the judges afraid of having the only girl that looks normally developed (and beautiful too) becoming the star that she deserves to be?  She's a star in my book.  We love you Alicia!

Answer 10

She was definitely ripped off. It's unbelievable that she could not get the bronze after Cheng Fei almost fell on her knees. Alicia did a great job on her vault. And I know this is off topic but Alicia is the most beautiful girl in the entire world.

Answer 11

Alicia's starting point was way below Cheng Fei's because her vault point was low, as a major mistake only costs 0.8 point, Cheng Fei still got higher score.

Answer 12

higher difficulty rating or not, if you cant even jump straight, flake out on the spin and also finish it off by falling flat on your face you shouldn't be getting a silver medal. its the Olympics not some meet at the local gym or whatever. Say what you want, like the Americans are moaning and groaning because we're sore losers but when it's blatantly obvious that the judges don't know what they're doing or the fact that China payed they're way through gymnastics its unfair to these women. Yet, these "women" or girls that are only 14 get to go home with a handful of golds they don't deserve. And we all know they'll be back in 2012 in London to win more medals but at least they'll be legitimately qualified then with real passports. We all know China cheated the opening ceremony with fake fireworks (THEY INVENTED THEM!! WTF??), lip syncing that put Millie Vanillie to shame, and the Han majority of "Diverse Chinese cultures" so what would stop them from pulling some strings in the gymnastic arena?

No, I'm not "crying, or whining, or throwing a fit". I'm simply putting it out there that its no feat for a country like China to make sure they come out on top in this respective field.

Answer 13

    Cheng Fei fell.  There are just certain things, as Bela stated, that cost you a medal when they happen.  Falling is one of them.  Cheng also made several other mistakes with hand placement.    

    Alicias performance was solid, and she made no major mistakes.  She should have definitely won the bronze.

    I think that the judges were just inexperienced, and thus had a narrow view of gymnastics (favoring grace over other styles that focus on power and coordination).  It's exactly as Bela stated.

    However, the Chinese tactic of holding signs up to synchronize mass cheering (an article discussing this was in the Washington Post awhile back iirc) doesn't help even the playing field.  If you just cheer really loudly an inexperienced judge with no backbone will cave and give a higher score.  It's human nature.

Answer 14

no, bela.  

Answer 15

They may as well told her not to even bother competing since she obviously had no chance no matter what happened.  When a girl can mess up the whole vault, land on her knees, and still get a medal for it there is something wrong.

Answer 16

Without a doubt Alicia should have received a medal for her performance.  It is unfortunate the judging was so blatantly poor and unfair. The so called "scoring" rewarded a person trying to perform a high point vault but crash landed on their knees & hand. Béla Károlyi confirmed my suspicion that the scoring was not right.  It's very disappointing to see the underage gymnasts and biased judging.  Unlike some of the competition, Alicia had a solid performance and didn't choke under pressure. She deserved better than she received.

Answer 17

yeah she got screwed out of a medal

Answer 18

Well, that Bela coach, said she was ripped off.  I'm basically a dirty old man, that watches female gymnastics just to watch the ladies?  Looks wise, I think Sacramone has the best tush and thighs etc. of all those others?  Prettiest too?  I realize, how hard she tried for America and all.  I also realize, my remarks are pretty empty?  Still, as an American, I was quite proud of her.  She gets my gold medal.  Actually had it just showing up.  

Answer 19

I would have been thrilled if Alicia got the bronze but the numbers just weren't there unfortunately. Alicia got the worst luck going first because those scores are usually pretty conservative.  

Answer 20

Yes, she was ripped off.  If you can't complete the vault, your level of difficulty is a moot point.  h**l, I could get up there and tell the judges I will do 35 flips and then just land on my face.  Do I disserve a Gold Medal?

Overall, the judges have been WAY OFF when scoring the Chinese and it is very apparent.  I have been watching the Olympics my whole life (44 years old) and have never heard the commentators react to the scores as they have this time.  In addition, the Chinese have cheated by using under aged girls.

Answer 21

not only did she hit her knees .8/10 deduction, plus her hands were miss placed on the vault to major errors, by my calculation that is atleast a 1 pt deduction, meaning she should have scored no more than 15.00 flat at most

Answer 22

Alicia got screwed!!! If the olympics would of been held any where else in the world she would of got the bronze!!!