Gymnastics judging could be going high tech

I’m not sure what to think of International Gymnastics Federation boss Bruno Grandi.

Is he a great visionary? Or a manipulative madman?

Now that the new code of points has not been the complete disaster many felt it would be — he’s looking at many more radical changes:

STUTTGART, Germany — Gymnastics judging could be going high-tech if the head of the international federation has his way.

Three years after overhauling the sport’s scoring system to provide more impartial judging, Bruno Grandi said he would like to streamline the process further by using computers, much like figure skating does. Instead of recording execution marks by hand, judges would input them into a computer during the routine.

“The computer must calculate the addition, not the judges,” Grandi, president of the International Gymnastics Federation, told The Associated Press during an interview at the world championships.

Grandi overhauled the scoring system after a series of judging errors at the Athens Olympics, most notably the debacle that followed Paul Hamm’s victory in the all-around. Hamm was forced to defend his gold medal all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after the FIG announced an error had been made in the bronze medalist’s score.

Now, instead of a single mark based on the 10.0 system, gymnasts get two separate scores. One, the A score, represents the difficulty of the skills in the routine. The second, the B score, is for execution, how well the gymnast did the skills.

As execution judges watch routines, they note by hand the skills done and whether there were any flaws. When the routine is finished, each judge adds up his or her deductions and submits their final tally.

But Grandi said he is concerned that judges can alter their marks during the addition process to either bolster a gymnast in the standings or bump them down. But if judges would use a touch-screen computer as the routine is being done, that removes any possibility for impropriety, he said. …

Grandi conceded he has packed a lot of revolutionary changes into a short time. Fine-tuning needs to be done, and things like computerized judging wouldn’t take effect until after the Beijing Olympics. …

READ MORE – ESPN – Gymnastics judging could be going high tech – Gymnastics

A competent international judge would not be more or less biased with this kind of system, in my opinion. Grandi is wrong there.

But scores would come up faster — so I’m still for it.

Diving scores come up on the big screen before the athlete surfaces using this kind of system.

JPAD – Wireless Judges Scoring System (Judge or Score PAD). For use with Diving Meet Management and Recording Software