Horrible Fans at the Olympics!

[tinatark]

I felt so bad watching Paul Hamm tonight. The crowd, at first was booing the judges... then continued as he started his AWESOME, 9.8something routine. I was willing him to be perfect, to get back in the faces of the boo-ers!

Casina, from Italy, was awesome. He and Hamm tied in the competition, went to the complicated tie breaker. Honestly, I think Casina's routine was better than Hamm's.

Oops, the Korean, who *deserved* the Gold Medal for the all around royally SCREWED up his high bar routine. And his supportive applause was deafening.

 

[disney4us2002]

See other post. While I did feel bad for Paul having to wait out the booing crowds, I'd have to say it was a case of "horrible judges at the Olympics" rather than your title. I think Alexsei did a better routine than Paul.

 

[poohkinandpiglet]

I agree- Alexsei got rooked! He was awesome.

 

[Aimeedyan]

I don't think it was horrible fans, I think it was horrible judging! I'm GLAD that fans stood up and expressed their disapproval!

 

[workinggal]

It was horrible judging until the fans started booing Paul Hamm, then they became horrible fans.

 

[snoopy]

I felt absolutely horrible for Paul last night. He has the heart of a champion though, as evidenced by his almost flawless performance. I know a lesser athlete would have choked. He's all Gold in my eyes.

 

[vernon]

I think it was unfortunate for Paul Hamm to have to follow that situation, but the judging was to blame, not the crowd. IMHO it was obvious to everyone watching that Nemov's display was far ahead of anything that had gone before and to be put into 3rd place was a shocking decision. I thought Hamm's display was excellent given the circumstances and was deserving of a medal. Although I'd have had the result 1) Casina 2) Nemov and 3) Hamm

I do think Gymnastics needs to look at it's scoring system, because it's being used by athletes so that an inferior routine earns higher marks than a better routine. Cases in point were the men's highbar, the men's parallel bars (where a Ukranian won with what I thought was 6th or 7th best routine) and the Women's Asymetric bars. It was the women's Asymetric bars that best demonstrates my point. The French girl who won gold, did a couple of difficult moves to get the required difficulty marks, then basically moved straight into her dismount. By minimising the amount of time on the bars she cuts down her chance of getting marks deducted for not being in a "perfect line". Humprey and Kupets (both of USA) did longer and more difficult routines, but because they stayed on the apparatus longer they gave the judges more chance to deduct .1 or .05 here and there. At the moment it seems the top marks are going to the people who make the least errors, not those that complete the best routines. IMHO that's just can't be right.

I would favour a system similar to diving where a routine has a "degree of difficulty" and the "style marks" are multiplied by the degree of difficulty. That way a gymnast who performs a much longer and more difficult routine, but takes a step on landing, could/should score higher than someone who performs a much quicker and easier routine and lands perfectly. Currently it seems the medals go to the person who lands best, in a one minute program to decide the medal on the last .1 of a second of that routine seems disproportionate.

Oops, the Korean, who *deserved* the Gold Medal for the all around royally SCREWED up his high bar routine

Even the American gymnastic association agrees he deserved the gold medal, why put ** round it? Paul Hamm did outstandingly well to come back from a low score on his first piece and again I thought deserved A medal, but if it had been scored correctly he would have got the silver and the Korean would have got the gold he was screwed out of.

In a way I feel most sorry for Hamm, although he has the gold medal, he will always know he only won it because of a judges error robbed someone else of that medal. In the years to come, that medal will always be a little tarnished to him, and an Olympic gold should never be that. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather have a genuinely deserved silver, than a gold won by an judging error.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

THe judging last night wasn't very good, but the crowd definitely booed Paul Hamm as he was accepting his silver medal. So the fans stink too. Hamm didn't do anything wrong.

Now Russia is protesting the women's All-Around result as well as last night's fiasco.

Gymnastics is going to undergo a major scoring overhaul (again) as a result of this.

 

[airhead]

What is up with those judges?????? Does anyone know how and who gets to be a judge in the gymnastic competition? Man,they're pretty bad.

 

[Poohbear123]

This is one of the main reasons why I do not watch the Olympics, because of the UNFAIR Judges--they seem to vote WHO they want to win a medal sometimes.

 

[snoopy]

Originally posted by theSurlyMermaid
THe judging last night wasn't very good, but the crowd definitely booed Paul Hamm as he was accepting his silver medal. So the fans stink too. Hamm didn't do anything wrong.

Now Russia is protesting the women's All-Around result as well as last night's fiasco.

Gymnastics is going to undergo a major scoring overhaul (again) as a result of this.

Exactly! I can understand (sort of) the booing of the judges, but to boo Paul Hamm while he was receiving his medal was criminal.

And the fact that Russia is protesting the women's All Around is laughable. While I do think Paul Hamm's performance might be questionable as worthy of a Gold, I don't know how anyone could think that of Carly's Gold. She won first place fair and square.

 

[barbeml]

The gymnastics judging seems to be heading down the same corrupt path as the skating judging.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

What was sort of hilarious and unbelievable is that the parallel bars judging (which was just as awful as the high bar judging) was done with replacement judges because the ones from the All-Around were sanctioned and removed. And the judging got (IMO) worse!

Last night was absolutely a low point for gymnastics. The sport needs a scoring overhaul because it almost seems like the judges (at least on the men's side) don't even understand it.

I thought every womens' result was utterly fair. How unfortunate that this fuels Khorkina's sore-loser fire. I was hoping she would just go away.

The thing is though, the men's judging has been questionable from the moment the competition started. However it didn;t always favor America, like everyone is saying. Remember how poor Blaine Wilson took a tremendous fall on high bar after altering his routine at a judge's request. They lowered his start value days before the competition started.

The judges have been sort of roundly awful in men's gymnastics, IMO.

 

[danacara]

The judging did seem overtly political. Was anyone else secretly happy to see that there was no American judge? There was a Canadian, a Frenchperson, a Malaysian, a Romanian ... but no American. At least Hamm can take some solace in the fact that he won off a judging panel without an American.

 

[Robinrs]

The fans cannot be fired or regulated but the judges can.

I stopped watching because of the unfairness so I missed the ceremonies. I don't care for Hamm, especially after his interview on the Today Show today.

 

[missypie]

The one thing that is very funny about all of this is that last week, everyone was bemoaning the fact that the stands were so empty...okay, now the hall is full...how do you like those fans???!!!!

 

[snoopy]

Gymnastics should be judged like a game of H-O-R-S-E (basketball) - keep pushing the difficulty of a trick/routine until someone stumbles. Otherwise, the judging will always be subjective and what constitutes the best in the eye of the beholder.

 

[disney4us2002]

Originally posted by vernon
Even the American gymnastic association agrees he deserved the gold medal, why put ** round it? Paul Hamm did outstandingly well to come back from a low score on his first piece and again I thought deserved A medal, but if it had been scored correctly he would have got the silver and the Korean would have got the gold he was screwed out of.

In a way I feel most sorry for Hamm, although he has the gold medal, he will always know he only won it because of a judges error robbed someone else of that medal. In the years to come, that medal will always be a little tarnished to him, and an Olympic gold should never be that. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather have a genuinely deserved silver, than a gold won by an judging error.

Where did you hear or read that the American gymnastic assoc agrees the Korean deserved the gold? I think it's a stretch to say that that would've been the conclusion. As pointed out, there was another event remaining and the scoring could have altered the routines, mindsets, etc. of both the gymnasts and the judges. Perhaps the Korean would've felt his lead was comfortable enough and let up on his final routine. Perhaps Hamm would've pushed his routine a bit more. Perhaps the judges would've been more inclined to give a higher score on the last apparatus if they liked Hamm's routine more. It is subjective afterall. I don't think anyone can state with any certainty that Hamm would've only gotten silver or that Tae-young would've defintely have gotten gold.

I think he should be proud of his gold medal but I don't doubt he will face others who don't feel he deserved it.

 

[bananiem]

So last night Tim Daggett demonstrated that the Korean actually should have had a .2 deduction for a 4th hold that was not deducted.
How would we all feel if he had been given the gold, Hamm the silver or bronze, and then this came to light? I mean showing that perhaps Hamm or someone else was "robbed"?
I think it has been said by several people in the sport over the past week that it's a subjective sport and this stuff happens a lot. If the Koreans had a problem with it they should have appealed it immediately. And honestly, as fast as those gymnastices routines go, how could anybody REALLY see it all? It's all a blur!

 

[snoopy]

Originally posted by bananiem
So last night Tim Daggett demonstrated that the Korean actually should have had a .2 deduction for a 4th hold that was not deducted.
How would we all feel if he had been given the gold, Hamm the silver or bronze, and then this came to light? I mean showing that perhaps Hamm or someone else was "robbed"?
I think it has been said by several people in the sport over the past week that it's a subjective sport and this stuff happens a lot. If the Koreans had a problem with it they should have appealed it immediately. And honestly, as fast as those gymnastices routines go, how could anybody REALLY see it all? It's all a blur!

I agree. I keep imagining how many times Hamm or anyone else has lost a title or meet because of a bad call? And yet this time he will need to suck it up and give back the medal because this time the call went for him? I'm thinking not......