Bad Form

In these Olympics. I have primarily been interested in the swimming and a few tennis matches. Now that the swimming is over, I tune in now and again, but not as regularly. Besides, this week is crazy busy.

Anyhow, you would have to have been really out of touch to not know there is already a lot of controversy surrounding gymnastics during this Olympics. If you want it summed up, you can read this piece by Michelle Malkin. It is a bit harsh, as she tends to be exactly that. However, it definitely gets the bulk of the controversy across.

I expected the whole Potemkin Village of the Olympics in Beijing. When the press submitted to some censorship, you knew some of that was coming. Therefore, the lip syncing, fake fireworks, and seat holders weren't that big of a surprise.

I am truly disappointed though in how the spirit of the Olympics has been tread upon in gymnastics in particular. It is no secret that China is a power house in gymnastics and diving. They are always a force to be reckoned with. The men were highly favored to win the gold, and the women (I use that term loosely) have long been a major threat to U.S. dominance. It was no surprise that they won the gold either. I don't put that much stock in the whole delay thing for what it is worth. It might have been a shady thing to do, but that is part of the whole competition is keeping your nerves and stuff together.

In individual competition, however, Nastia Liukin, who tied in score with the Chinese girl (He Kexin I believe is her name), was not awarded a second gold medal but given the silver in some arbitrary tie breaking procedure. They didn't even have them do a tie breaking routine. They simply used some arbitrary procedure to decide it. Nastia Liukin is the gold medalist in the all around, so I am trying to figure out for the life of me what they came up with to decide the tie. The scoring system in gymnastics has been under fire since the Athens Olympics 4 years ago. You would think that in something already so subjective and under so much scrutiny, they would do as they do in countless other events, award duplicate medals in case of a tie. Duplicate bronze medals were awarded in this Olympics in wrestling. Duplicate silvers were awarded in the women's 100m dash. The later event comes down to 1/100 of a second timing as well. If there is a tie at that point, why not award two medals. That is keeping in the spirit of the Olympic Games. If both of these girls performed routines of equal difficulty with equal execution (again subjective), then why not two gold medals. This is truly bad form. Very very bad form in an event that is already under so much scrutiny and the subject of so much controversy. Other than Michael Phelps, it looks like the story of the Beijing Olympics will be the questionable scandal surrounding Chinese gymnastics. Is that really worth China having the only gold medal in one women's gymnastic event?

For what it is worth, many think that when the ages of the Chinese gymnasts are exposed, Nastia Liukin will get her medal anyhow. I for one say don't count on it. I don't think anyone is going to bother China about the ages of those girls. They will let it die it out in the spirit of coming together.

Update: I have read here what the tie breaks came down to. The first tie break still resulted in a tie. The second was arbitrary but indicates a flaw in the sport rather than in the Chinese Olympics in particular. Why not just average in both scores that were thrown out? I continue to hold to my opinion that it is bad form and that in a sport so heavy with scandal already, they would be better off giving two medals. That would be keeping in the olympic spirit. That would be good form.