Comments on East Coast Bias: Alicia Sacramone Was Robbed

"CHING CHONG CHING CHONG" - Rosie O'Donnell, "un...

2009-11-27T13:19:28.425-05:00

"CHING CHONG CHING CHONG" - Rosie O'Donnell, "unbiased" Chinese Olympic Jodge

I can't believe the Chinese girl who landed on her...

2009-01-26T22:13:14.309-05:00

I can't believe the Chinese girl who landed on her shins on the vault dismount 2 out of 2 times get a bronze over Sacramone...

Alicia Sacramone totally robbed. No reason why som...

2008-09-21T00:37:58.313-04:00

Alicia Sacramone totally robbed. No reason why someone who lands on her knees, shouldn't get deducted 2 .08 deductions. Anyone who knows vault knows that. The execution needed to be much lower. You deserve bronze Alicia, though we know you wanted more - Justin Cornet

Anyone else see last night's Balance Beam finals? ...

2008-08-20T14:03:52.594-04:00

Anyone else see last night's Balance Beam finals? Fei got some really questionable scoring AGAIN. Not as aggregious as the vault, but still pretty blatantly positive given what she did. I can't remember the last time I yelled at the tv for a bad call for something other than a Ravens game, so I guess its at least fun to watch, but its very frustrating to see such things.

Thank you, nameless, faceless people who said the ...

2008-08-19T15:53:10.692-04:00

Thank you, nameless, faceless people who said the same thing, yet neither of whom recognized those who might argue (Bela) that the judging was not consistent or fair.

If we accept at face value that Fei got .8 off for the landing and .4 off for the beginning of her vault (when her hands were misplaced on the horse...if that was in fact the problem), can you articulate why .4 is a reasonable deduction? Bela argues that .8 would have been a fair and consistent deduction for that infraction.

Anyway, all that to say it's reasonable to say that she was robbed, and reasonable to say that the judging was fair.

Alicia's start values were too low to compete with...

2008-08-19T14:49:38.564-04:00

Alicia's start values were too low to compete with the others who had higher difficulties for both their vaults. It would have been hard for her to medal with the level of difficulty of her vaults, however good her execution was, and her execution was not as impressive as some of the others. Cheng Fei may have fallen but she got the necessary deductions. When many of the men fell off the pommel horse in the men's all-around final, they had scores from the 14s to low 15s, so Cheng Fei's score is comparable and not unreasonable. Her start values for the two vaults just gave her a huge lead over Alicia. I feel sorriest for Anna Pavlova, who's had an unfortunate Olympics, vaulted well but her second vault was scored zero for performing before the green light went on.

I'm not too surprised by the results. If you redu...

2008-08-19T13:32:21.408-04:00

I'm not too surprised by the results. If you reduce difficulty that much you can't expect to win. Fei lost a lot of points for missing the landing but if you start that much in front before deductions you can afford to. Had she nailed the vault she would have been low 16s so she lost at least a full point from deductions, probably more like 1.2. People are acting like she only lost 0.8 and the rest of her deductions (which are much lower) weren't counted. That isn't the case at all.

Sacramone didn't 'execute' her vaults. They were okay but also had deductions. I was surprised she was getting mid 15s. Maybe the judges were scoring high but it was high for everyone. If you start yourself that far back and aren't absolutely perfect you aren't going to medal. She wasn't perfect and she didn't medal.

If her vaults were mid 15s with her deductions Fei's would have needed to be scored at 16.4 if it was perfect(because of the higher diffculty and the deductions that Sacramone took)and 16.2 if it had the same number of deductions a Sacramone (remember, 0.7 higher start value). It scored a 15.0. That's an extra 1.2 points of deductions over Sacramone. That is an accurate score based on Sacramone's scores. Again, if the judges were scoring high, they were doing it for everyone and no one was robbed.

ryan: you should check your facts before mixing ra...

2008-08-19T12:49:44.482-04:00

ryan: you should check your facts before mixing race and nationality with accusations of bias.

The head of the Women's Artistic Gymnastics Technical Committee (the "chinese" judge you noticed flitting back and forth between the judging tables) is Nellie Kim (full name: Nellie Vladimirovna Kim). She's a celebrated Russian gymnast (of partial soviet/korean ancestry).

Carissa mentions the "Oylimpics". I'd like to see ...

2008-08-19T12:28:18.429-04:00

Carissa mentions the "Oylimpics". I'd like to see those just so Israel has a shot at a few more medals.

I didn't read any of the comments. Too many.I'll s...

2008-08-19T12:09:39.434-04:00

I didn't read any of the comments. Too many.

I'll say she was robbed, but it wasn't a total leep-ov. The judges could have scored the Chinese girl lower, but for whatever reason gave here lenient scoring.

Sometimes people see fouls in basketball differently, or holding in football. That's why it's a judgment call, and this whole sport is based on judging.

I don't think, as Bela claimed, they HAD to take off .8 for the initial error in her vault, whereas they did have to take off .8 deduction for stepping over the line on the landing.

I really feel bad for how things have gone down fo...

2008-08-19T06:28:21.558-04:00

I really feel bad for how things have gone down for Alicia Sacramone at these Olympics, but this to me is more about how a gymnast [Chinese or other] can land on their knees and score a 15.anything. It's ludicrous. Like someone anonymously said above, if the vault has a high enough start value, can they just land on their heads and still score in the 15s??? That'd make for some pretty interesting future Olympics. "YES!!! She goes for the septtouple back somersault!!! AND YES!!! SHE LANDS ON HER HEAD!!! IT'S A 16.755!!!" Fun to watch, but any circus clown can do it.

She was robbed, period. Like so many have said bef...

2008-08-19T05:02:46.762-04:00

She was robbed, period. Like so many have said before me... SHE DID NOT LAND, SO SHE DID NOT FALL. There should be some kind of rule that if you do not land on your feet, there should be a major deduction, or you should be DQed. THIS IS THE OYLIMPICS, you should come with perfected routines. For example, don't do a difficult vault that you haven't been landing. Fei had been having troubles with that particular vault, but she tried it just to get that higher start value. The second she landed on her knees, it should have been DQed.. in no way should she have a medal for such a disgraceful vault.

It's terrible. Alicia did get robbed of her medal....

2008-08-19T02:01:25.737-04:00

It's terrible. Alicia did get robbed of her medal. The judges must of been on the Chinese payroll. Look at all of the unfair scores the U.S. girls got but all of the China girls had high scores even though they didn't deserve it. Such cheating should not be allowed. Many of the NBC commentators did mention that the Chinese girl should have been docked more but they didn' do their job. Alicia Sacramone was robbed!

so I could go up there and do an amazing routine a...

2008-08-19T00:42:49.163-04:00

so I could go up there and do an amazing routine and land on my head and still win if the dificulty was high enough? thats not right.

I love how people keep trying to justify this base...

2008-08-19T00:31:12.899-04:00

I love how people keep trying to justify this based on the new scoring system. The first thing that you guys can't seem to get through your thick skull is what at least two people already said. She didn't COMPLETE the vault. Therefore, a .8 deduction, without a change in start value, is too low of a deduction.

Second, you talk about how there can't be any bias towards China. If you've been watching how the scoring works, you'd know that the judges score and the technical committee changes that score based on their ridiculous poking and prodding through slow motion replay. You might also notice that the head of the technical committee in the women's gymnastics (which is the only event/sport I've seen so far with a bias) is Chinese. Go figure.

For me I will bypass the arguments as they gotten ...

2008-08-19T00:25:31.329-04:00

For me I will bypass the arguments as they gotten to be a little tiring! If this group of judges wants to be remembered for this, which they will, then let them have their day! They took the shining moments from all three, yes including the gold medalists because it didn't come undisputed, then so be it! What I enjoyed the most out of the evening was the grace at which the young lady accepted second because it was obviously beyond her control and the fact that Alicia got redemption for herself in front of the entire world and there aren't many people in the world that could have executed those faults having had the day she had before! You go Girl, as a matter of fact she became a WOMAN that night! P.S.- GOOD LUCK to the judges finding a new job!

I watched that whole thing with my wife last night...

2008-08-18T18:24:22.703-04:00

I watched that whole thing with my wife last night. I couldn't believe that someone who landed on her knees even got above a 14, much less a 15. That vault was not worthy of a medal in the least. I haven't seen much I disagree with so far during the olympics, but that was a miscarraige of justice if I 've ever seen one.

Jeremy - Baseball won't be in the London olympics....

2008-08-18T18:03:22.946-04:00

Jeremy - Baseball won't be in the London olympics.

Softball won't, either.

Hmm... two sports the USA is supposed to dominate in. Imagine that!

About as fair as the Olympic baseball extra inning...

2008-08-18T17:47:01.358-04:00

About as fair as the Olympic baseball extra innings rules. Maybe in London they'll settle things with a dizzy bat race.

I'm not hip to the rules of women's gymnastics, mo...

2008-08-18T17:20:12.955-04:00

I'm not hip to the rules of women's gymnastics, mostly because I'm neither a chick or a pedophile... But in the end, things like gymnastics and figure skating shouldn't be competitive sports unless each and every competitors is required to do the exact same thing. THEN and only then can you compare any competitors... as it is the systems is designed to be flawed and create dissent. Until they make a change to set programs in each event the Olympics should ban them as sports... if someone want to show them as entertainment fine go ahead but don't play like they are some refined sport, they aren't... From what I've read I should go sign up as a mens gymnast, find a routine that has a difficulty of a million and then go trot down the mat and trip all over myself... if you only lose .8 for fall well hell I can't suck at a million point routine and still win.

yeah she didn't get robbed. I agree with the fact ...

2008-08-18T16:55:40.870-04:00

yeah she didn't get robbed. I agree with the fact that the scoring is very fair, because if everyone recalls, cheng fei did a perfect first vault and had a 16 point something as her score. That was able to compensate for the ACCURAGE deductions on cheng's 2nd vault.

and sacramone made no major errors but honestly she didn't impress. she had like average 15 point something scores for both vaults.

and that bela guy is melodramatically biased. I mean on TV he was all, "you cannot break the heart of an american girl!!" or something. He just made it sound like the judges should side with sacramone just because she deserves it since she screwed up so bad in the team competition. Olympics are based on SKILL aren't they?

you people can say that the judging system is lame but no one should be claiming that there is BIAS toward china because that is so not true. there are no more chinese judges than judges from any other country. therefore blame the entire system but leave the chinese out of it, please.

Or you could vote American Idol style and have a B...

2008-08-18T16:53:57.645-04:00

Or you could vote American Idol style and have a Bob Costas run around like Seacrest. That would totally be fair.

This WAS a total "lip off"having a human error fac...

2008-08-18T11:42:40.115-04:00

This WAS a total "lip off"

having a human error factor on the part of the judges is not what being an olympic champion is about, it's about performing well, not someone else judging how you performed.

bring in the cameras and computer based scoring.

Yeah, I was just kidding, the age limit is 16 and ...

2008-08-18T11:41:08.746-04:00

Yeah, I was just kidding, the age limit is 16 and the Chinese have been obviously violating it.

sorry sorry... don't mean to make fun.There should...

2008-08-18T11:38:58.770-04:00

sorry sorry... don't mean to make fun.
There shouldn't be a 14 year old in the finals for me to make fun of anyway.