A Belated Note About The Olympics

There were, it seems, innumerable judging controversies this year with regard to gymnastics, including some international gymnastics governing body or another requesting, though not actually requiring, an American men's gymnastics gold medal winner to return his medal. These controversies seem to stem from the fact that gymnastics now has a labyrinthine system of rules for scoring points; deductions are sometimes measured in one quarter of one-tenths of a point, and the gold medal previously mentioned was won by two one-thousandths (0.002) of a point. While scoring a routine, judges cannot keep their eyes glued to the performance at all times, as they must, at least occasionally glance down to make a note. When the difference between going home with a gold and going home with nothing at all is often less than a whole point, any distraction at all by the judges could mean disaster for a contestant.

Even though I am utterly unqualified to do so, I offer a solution to this problem: instant replay.

This could work one of at least two ways. First, have the judges watch the routine without making any kind of note or comment on their cards at all; this way they are sure to see the routine in it's entirety, and not miss some crucial point where the athlete did especially well or poor. Then, have them watch the tape, and make their scoring decisions there. This way, they can be certain of any deductions or bonus points they wish to award. The other way would be to model it after the NFL, where if the coach has a specific complaint about the score, a specific deduction or deductions he wishes to challenge, he may do so and everybody goes to the tape. If the replay bears out the coaches challenge, then the score is revised. If, after viewing the replay, the judge does not feel the change is warranted, then the athlete is fined tenth of a point or something, similar to the penalty a football team faces if they lose their challenge. This would prevent people from challenging every little thing and focus only on grievous or significant errors.

If anyone reading this had a more technical knowledge of gymnastics, say, is actually involved with the sport outside of watching the olympics, let me know what you think of my idea.