The olympics... an issue?

Question

Does it appear to anyone else that China is so concerned about winning that they are willing to cheat, in more ways then one (Underage atheletes, Chinese judges voting poorly for United States (even though they do good, and then voting good for the people that were Chinese even if they did bad)? Are they that desperate to win, are they that competitive they have to cheat? I mean, this is rediculous.

Answer 1

I agree with you partly. Yes i think it's ridiculous that they are putting in underage gymnasts, deliberately breaking the rules and putting 16 on their stupid government passports. Seriously, are they just gonna get away with it? They should be stripped of their team medal and the bronze medal they got in the womens all around. There are other gymnasts that followed the rules that actually deserve them. Yes, the Olympics is a competition to see who is the best it the world and some people think age shouldn't be a factor and the rule is bogus, but you still have to follow it. Compete fairly now, protest it later. What i don't agree with you on is the scoring. Not all of the judges are chinese. And they scores they gave off weren't that bogus. You're just looking at the low scores in particular. Some of the scores were really good. The only score that the judges effect is the execution score, and i think they judged most of them fairly. If a gymnast had a low start score to begin with, that that will bring the score down even if they performed well. The judges can only give a score so high. The start score plays a big part. Even if you performed really well and it looked good to you, if it wasn't that difficult of a routine, than they will get a low score, regardless of how many deductions the judges took off. Yes, some of the scores were low like Nastia liukin of vault in the all around ( UGH!!! ) but her start score wan't that high to begin with so she couldn't of gotten a high score anyway. When they flash the gymnasts difficulty/start score in the begining,before they start, add up the difficulty score and add 10 ( if they were to get no deductions ) and that's the highest score they can possibly get. So when they get their actualy score, it way seem low, but if you compare the numbers, they may have only taken off a few tenths. But because the start score was low, the overall score was low. you have to look at both numbers before you think they score was to low. You can't just automatically say "oh that so deserved a 16". the athlete's start score may have been low, and the highest score she or he could get was only a 15.5.  That's why they issued the code of point. Becuase with the old scoring, regardless of if the routine was super difficuly or average difficulty, the score was based solely on the execution. Bottom line. If the difficulty score isn't super high, that they can't get a super high score, even if they performed well. So i don't think the chinese judges judged that harshly. They took off deductions where the gymnast had faults, and that's as far as they go. After that, it's not up to them. Lets say 2 gymnasts are going on the uneven bars. one of them has a starts score of a 6, one of them a 5. even if they both got ten on the execution, one would get one point lower. That's why some scores look too low but it's not really the judges fault. So i agree with you on the cheating part, but no on the judging.  

Answer 2

I don't believe cheating has been proved in any event. It is amazing that Americans get beaten and the call the winner/s cheats. I seem to remember An American losing her medal for doping.  

Answer 3

I think these Olympics should just be disregarded. There were a lot of errors. It is a shame that they'd go to all that trouble (fake fireworks, lip-synching, deceiving children, etc.) just to win.

Answer 4

Randy,

I'm curious. Do you think there's been an Olympic Games venue that hasn't had these same questions? How many athletic events have these issues? (I can mention over a dozen little league games this past summer that if you asked the parents on the sideline they'd say their kid was short changed if the score didn't reflect positively for their team) My guess is that there's never been even 50% of the fans of a losing team that felt they got more fair shakes than the winners.

For those of you ready to bash sports there are just as many people that would have the same arguments for politics and other activities outside of sport.

Don't get me wrong. I think the scoring has been very suspect at the gymnastics venue so you have a very strong point. However, I have felt that way every year I've watched except for '96 when the scores were favorable for the Americans.

I don't agree with the way of life in China and I believe their government (and their NOC) is repressive and hurtful to their people but if you ask the Chinese this question you will get a different answer (of course).

Do you have a specific event that is frustrating you more than others? (I assume it's mainly the women's gymnastics.)

Sorry you're frustrated but I hope you're enjoying the games nonetheless.

Enjoy!

Answer 5

The underage Gymnasts thing is still without any tangible proof. We have Website V Passports. If you were the IOC, which would you be more likely to believe?

The judges are not "Chinese". They are from all over the world as they always have been.

Gotta agree with poster 2. Everyone always feels hard done by when their countrymen don't get the gold.