Why might the judges in the Olympics be slated towards the home team?

Question

Okay lets try this again. no presumtions. What say you yahooers?

Answer 1

they cant be biased to their home team since they cannot judge their home team to prevent this

Answer 2

If it is true that the home team is favored by the judges during the gymnastic competitions, and if it really happened every time in the olympic games, the only logical reason might be that the enthusiasm from the home crowd was affecting the judges. In that sense, I completely agree with Chris C.

But that said, we do not know for sure whether it is a fact that the home team is always favored. It is just an observation. It would be hard to prove it. Just because you believe something so much, it does not make it true.

Anyway. The judging is very subjective. That's why they take off the highest and lowest scores, and put in other complicated formulas. Because it is subjective, the result will not be agreed by everyone. You don't have to agree, but you kind of have to accept it. What are you going to do? Jump off a bridge?

Everyone needs to be calm, and be realistic and try not just jump to a conclusion that the judging was not fair. Even an expert opinion is just from that expert. The expert is most likely biased because of his or her relationship with a team. That's why the judges are not from any of the competing countries. And the judges who gave the highest and lowest scores probably do not agree with the final scores either.

The system is not perfect. But too much complaining does not help. Just let it go and enjoy the games. It might help you lowering the risk of getting hypertension or diabetes later in your life.

Personally I think the Chinese girl who won the Bronze had the best performance. I did not see any obvious mistakes. Her performance was flawless. Even the US commentator thought her performance was probably good enough to win the gold. But when she got a  lower score, nobody said anything, no one complained, just a brief silence from the US commentator. And the Chinese girl was very happy. And that is great sportsmanship. Now, were the judges unfair to her? Or was there something the judges saw that the lay person would not pick up (including the US commentator)? I think the later is more likely.

Answer 3

Man, is this the 1st time that judges act like this way towards the home team? Did it not happen the same in 1984 Olympics games or in 1996 edition? Wow!

Answer 4

They're more bias towards the Americans actually. Liukin should be fourth in uneven bars coz nothing spectacular about her routine. And they should be not in the medal in all around coz they stumbled a lot.

Answer 5

Having a big crowd cheering the local competitor can reinforce positive aspects of a performance and silence for the competitor can make them ignore qualities of outsiders. They are human after all.

Answer 6

Judged are always going to be slated weather it be towards china or the united states. Sport like gymnastics are done under the pretense that people don't have biases, and to our surprise they do. That why we shouldn't allow them in the olympics but they do and they will.