what’s with the judging at the Olympics?

We lost the “perfect 10” because the Men’s judges in Athens 2004 bungled that competition in front of a worldwide audience of millions.

But is this NEW scoring system working?

NBC commentator Tim Daggett doesn’t think so:

… Daggett felt compelled to go on the air with this statement on NBC that he feels there is something amiss with the way the men’s routines are being judged in Beijing. He appears to be saying that each routine is not only evaluated by judges on the floor but that behind the scenes, judges are in front of screens possibly watching slow motion playbacks of each routine. He is intimating that there is too much micromanaging of the scoring from the top down, and that for the sake of athletes who trained their whole lives for this moment, this changing rules in the middle of competition has to stop.

We await more news on why the judging in Beijing has provoked this kind of serious critique after only one day of gymnastic competition.

Tim Daggett Questions Fairness of New Olympic Judging – Stick It Media

See the Daggett interview for yourself on NBC video.

I’ve not spoken with any of the Olympic judges yet. But it sounds really, really bad.

The Canadian coaches were furious about the judging. Rings Supervisor Alvaro Carvalho de Sousa was even called out. Accused of manipulating the scoring to eliminate the Canadians in the Team competition.

And is the women’s judging any better?

Bela Karolyi ranted on NBC that Shawn Johnson was scored 8.8 on Beam in prelims by one B-panel judge. Did you see that routine? Where are those deductions?

That’s an impossible score.

I’ve got a bad feeling about this code. The B-panel judges are not getting it right. They are too severe on the best routines. Too lenient on the worst routines. Playing it “safe” in order not to be too far out of range.

UPDATE: Read the comments. Very interesting. Many disagree with me.