From
“2008 Olympic Vault Fiasco” by Judy Schalk – Brevet Judge
Was it blatant cheating that allowed Cheng Fei of China to receive a bronze medal in vault finals to edge out Alicia Sacramone of the U.S. by .025?
I’ve been asked about this controversial event so often that I thought I’d give you my take on what may have happened.
There were no Chinese or American judges on the panel that judged the Vault Finals. No country represented in a finals event may have a judge on that event. However, Cheng Fei is the 3-time World Vault Champion and highly respected world wide for her unquestionable talent.
My opinion is that the judges flat out didn’t do their job. There are only 8 gymnasts in Event Finals. With falls being a whopping 0.80 deduction, they may have assumed a fall would knock anyone out of standings, certainly out of medal contention, without having to disgrace a revered athlete with a humiliatingly low score. I doubt that it was a calculated manipulation. It’s hard to subtly manipulate scores with these rules especially in vault finals since they average both vaults together. But since Cheng’s combined Start Value is 0.90 higher than Alicia’s, they’re pretty much on equal ground if you just take the 0.80 fall and don’t conscientiously score the vault.
The rules used in the 2008 Olympics are more severe on execution than the old rules. All deductions are “flat” with no incremental fractions. That is, deductions are 0.10, 0.30, 0.50 or 0.80. Obviously the judges did not evaluate all the categories of deductions when they scored Cheng’s missed vault. Her legs were apart in the first flight – 0.10. Her arms were staggered on the table, 0.10 or 0.30. She lacked her usual height in the second flight, minimally 0.10 but probably 0.30. She had body position errors in flight, (pike, knees) each 0.10. She piked down before landing, 0.50. Dynamics, 0.30. Fall, 0.80. Her score should not have been above 8.00.
So, yes, Alicia Sacramone earned the bronze medal for Vault in the 2008 Olympics though she’ll never own it. …
Judge Judy
(via the JustGymnastics.com email newsletter)
I appreciate Judy’s honestly. How else will judging improve unless feet are put to the fire?
Judy is from the USA. I know others did not score it the same way.
We really should ask the judges on the panel:
B1 de JONG E V MOLEMA Aukje Netherlands
B2 GRATT Johanna Austria
B3 MURTONEN Satu Sirpa Finland
B4 SABOGAL de DOMINGUEZ Blanca Cecilia Colombia
B5 GOTHBERG Agneta Birgersdotter Sweden
B6 DIDILESCU Olga Fanica Romania
I cannot seem to find their individual scores on the internet. (Leave a comment if you’ve seen them.)
FIG needs to do something with future regulations so that a full fall (almost always) eliminates a gymnast from getting on to the podium. It’s embarrassing for our sport to be handing out medals to people sitting on their butts.
Alicia – Vault
People still love Alicia. She got a heroine’s welcome on arrival back home.
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