[Cerek]

Originally Posted by Variol (Farseer) Elmwood We also need to factor in difficulty in the scores. 3.0 difficulty over 3.5 when scores are added and multiplied can make a big difference. I also find that there can be a bit too much emphasis on the landings/entries etc. The rest of it should account for the greater part. I think with the Chinese girl though, her score was still too high. It has also been said that the cheering of the crowd does affect the scores. Maybe they should be in a sound booth. The angle the judges are on has also had effect on the scoring 'cos they miss stuff. Our Canadian girl in martial arts filed a complaint yesterday after her match, but didn't get anywhere. I think it's ok with them if they loose, but not due to errors in judging. That's a tough pill to swallow. With those events and boxing, I believe all 3 judges need to see the hit for it to count. Two should really be enough. And yes, I've heard the same thing about less experienced judges as well.

The degree of difficulty is taken into account on every routine, of course. But that was factored in to the discussion as well.

Going back to Cheng Fuey(sp?) and her floor routine (I believe). She and the American girl, Nastasia, ended up with an identical score. They also had the same degree of difficulty in their routine. Cheng Fuey simply made more mistakes in her routine, so she should have had more deductions and her score should have been lower even with a higher degree of difficulty factored in.

As for her vault, Bart pointed out 3-4 other flaws with her jump; her hands were skewed on the horse, she did not "punch" off the horse with the force she should, and a couple of others. Now these things happened too fast for an untrained eye to really catch and that is where part of the problem comes in. But even though the judges may come from weak gymnastic backgrounds, they should still know to look for these basic flaws in a routine. And emphasis is put on the landing because it is the easiest point to spot mistakes. Anyone can see if the gymnasts takes a step or a hop on the landing. With Cheng Fuey's vault, though, she literally landed on one knee, which should have been an automatic .8 deduction.

When the compared the scores for Nastasia and Cheng in the tie breaker, they discovered the Australian judge had given a higher deduction to Nastasia for making a balance check than they did Cheng. Both girls made the same mistake in a routine with the same degree of difficulty, but the Australian judge deducted less for the mistake from Cheng Fuey, and that proved the difference between gold and silver.