FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE GYMNASTIQUE
REMARKS and JUDGES MATTERS
REMARKS:
Test Competition "Visa International Gymnastics - London Prepares series" represented the
second OG qualifying competition under the new qualification system approved by the FIG
Council.
It was unfortunately the second FIG official competition where the TCs, including the
President, acted as Superior Jury without having the possibility to see any scores (including
individual E judges scores) before publication, being at high risk to not be able to entirely fulfill
their duties as stipulated in the Statute, TR, Judges Rules, and Code of Points.
We encountered several problems due to some judge's errors concerning the input of their
own scores into the computer pad. For instance, in apparatus finals, at Horizontal Bar, after
the score publication we noticed that one of the judges instead of inputting the deductions (1.6
points), he entered 8.4 (his final score), creating a really critical situation. Luckily, the score
modification did not affect the final ranking; however this was only BY CHANCE! I want to
mention that the respective gymnast competed in the last position, and results, including the
awarding ceremony were delayed, while all spectators were looking and wondering how the
gymnast's score was changed (after publication)!
I urged several times the FIG President, and the Executive Committee to review the modified
Superior Jury duties concerning at least this matter, because if something similar would
happen at the Olympic Games due to our self imposed rules, it would be again a disaster for
the image of gymnastics.
JUDGES MATTERS:
Good work of D judges;
Even if in several situations we had unacceptable differences between E judges, after
the video analysis, final scores reflected the gymnast's performances;
We did not discover tendencies to favor or to disfavor teams or gymnasts, despite the
highly emotional charge of the competition;
A number of 4 inquiries were forwarded to the Superior Jury;
MTC proceeded to the complete judges' evaluation based on JEP Fairbrother including PCVR
evaluation by each TC member.
Some general remarks:
- The time period of the competition was totally unusual for gymnastics (some very
severe injuries in gymnasts' preparation for the competition), personally receiving a lot
of critics from participants;
- Excellent co-operation with the competition management - Matthew Greenwood and
his team;
- Excellent support from the FIG staff in charge Nicolas Buompane, Sylvie Martinet,
Rui Vinagre, and from the MTC liaison person Keith Brewer.
- No complaints regarding the Gymnova equipment;
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FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE GYMNASTIQUE