Olympic judges a little biased?

Question

Does anybody else feel that the judges for the 2008 olympics is a little bit biased toward the Chinese or is it just me?

Answer 1

It can seem like there's a bias at times. Really, though, there can't be judges on the panel from the same countries as the competators so it would more and likely be that the judges aren't very good since they come from countires that don't produce medal earning gymnists and aren't as experienced in the sport.

Answer 2

mm, why would a judge from New Zealand be biased towards the chinese...don't get me started.

The chinese have been preparing for these events for nearly 10 years. almost all their gold medals were won in judged events (diving, gymnastics, etc.). mmm, but not nearly as many golds in racing events? thats curious, ain't it? why do they have more than twice golds than silvers and bronzes combined? well, you nailed it, they are effectively bribbing.

if a chinese athlete was to realistically be placed somewhere in the top 5, they end up with a gold...not silver or bronze or fourth or fifth...thats a rare thing. nope, #1. look at other countries that win alot of medals...the medal count from gold to bronze is somewhat even...and they also have #4 and #5 spots. the chinese only rank 2 or 3 in racing events where bribery is not possible or behind the other chinese athlete that won #1 in judged events.

in the next olympics I would be suprised to see them win half the golds they are winning right now.

Answer 3

A little????

Answer 4

No nation can judge in an event where their athletes are participating in and the judges chosen for an event is a random process. So in order for China to "bribe" the judges, they would have to "bribe" every single judge from every nation in order to ensure that their athlete wins every gold in every men's gymnastics event (China is currently 5 for 5).

As for the women's gymnastics tie breaker, here is how the tie was broken:

Originally, the scores are determined by adding the difficulty with the execution scores given by various judges with the 2 lowest and the highest execution scores dropped. By this process, the two girls tied exactly with the same difficulty score of 7.7.

To break the tie, the Olympics guidelines (which was already agreed upon by all participating nations before the games have started) said to include the second lowest score of both athletes into the scoring process. By doing this He's second lowest score was a 9.1 and Liukin's second lowest was a 9.0 which makes He's average higher by the thousandth point giving her the gold.

Answer 5

They are obviously bias, but it's not necassarily only towards the Chinese, sure they have the advantage being in their stadium in their country, the judges help them along, but I have seen other countries getting away with things, maybe not as much, but there have been others.

Answer 6

Nope only Americans who didn't another Gold Medal notice this. The noise of the crowd has some effect on how anybody sees an event though.

Answer 7

Taking this answer from another post because it's probably the best I've found.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

Jeff in Dallas said...

"Clearly it is subjective.

Thats why track and field and swimming are superior events. No judges to award gold to the wrong athletes. The result is absolute. Thats why China will win no medals in athletics.

I know that hurts China. But watch and see if its true. You can't bribe a finish line. Or lie about its distance."

Answer 8

Just you :)

If anoyone is biased its that stupid NBC channel, here so pro-american its sick.

CBC is the best channel :)

Answer 9

No.

THere are no judges from China who can judge Chinese athletes.

Why would a judge from New Zealand then be biased towards the Chinese.

They simply think the Chinese are doing better so they award them higher marks.

Also, take into account the high start values due to high difficulty routines.

I personally thing all the complaints are due to sour grapes. It's as if every American thinks the Chinese are having some crazy unseen advantage (that must be cheating!) just because America isn't winning every gold.

Answer 10

I'm not American but I have found there to be an apparent bias in some events. It may just be the judges being subconsciously influenced by the zealous cheering for Chinese athletes. Still I wouldn't put anything past the PRC, they've done much worse.

Answer 11

No I think they are extremely biased.  

Answer 12

It’s bias against America. You can talk about starting value or the fact the judges aren't qualified or the scoring system but that would be a mistake. The American gymnasts were docked for more mistakes they didn't make and the China gymnasts were not docked for all the mistakes they made. So it cant be the start value if they are both the same and it can't be the inexperience of the judges because then it would be consistent either they would dock more points or less points to all the countries incorrectly instead of consistently docking the Americans for mistakes they didn't make and missing mistakes China did make. I know the judges are not Chinese but the head of the judging committee who tells the judges how to score Kim Sue is of Chinese nationality and anybody who has been watching with just a basic understanding of gymnastics can easily figure out the scoring has been bias favoring the Chinese without listing to the announcers so either the judges are bias toward America or Kim Sue is steering them to favor China or China has bribed the judges.

Answer 13

of course they were paid off by the goverment

Answer 14

Just you