Mistakes Prove Olympic Judging Not Foolproof

 

By Rebecca Ward¹

Heading into the last week of Olympic games in Athens, a number of judging mishaps² have caused some hard feelings and, in at least one case, the suspension of three judges. But, this isn't the first Olympics to be tainted³ by judging controversies⁴, and it's not likely to be the last.

Judging implies subjectivity⁵, while timekeeping - Peter Huerzeler's specialty⁶ in the Olympics since 1968 - does not.

"You see we have a big advantage. We can prove the whole thing," he said. "Of course we had the 800-meter race and the fourth person, they did a protest. The coach thought she was ahead of the other ones and she was third and not fourth. We showed them the picture and he said okay you are correct. No problem."

If only judging had such a foolproof methodology. Unfortunately, humans make mistakes and that's caused quite a stir in the past few days of the Olympics, now in its second week.

In the case of German equestrian⁷ Bettina Hoy, judges awarded her the gold medal twice before it was finally taken away by the Court of Arbitration⁸ for Sport. Although the Secretary-General of the Court, Mattheiu Reeb, says the decision was based on a technicality rather than whether or not they felt she was the winner.

"The equestrian case was not decided⁹ on the merits. I mean it was only a problem of jurisdiction¹⁰, whether or not the appeals commission of the International Equestrian Federation¹¹ had the rights to review and overturn a decision made by the grand jury. So this was not a field of play decision made by CAS, it was rather a procedural question."

Hoy had originally been awarded the gold for a three-day equestrian event. However, it was taken away after a review found that her horse had crossed the start line twice before the beginning of the show jumping course. Hoy appealed and got her gold back, then France, Britain and the United States' took the case to arbitration, where the final decision was made and Hoy was relegated¹² to fourth place.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has taken up temporary residence in the Holiday Inn on a busy downtown street in Athens. Twelve judges from five continents are on duty there, under security so tight that even an accredited¹³ journalist needs a special pass to go to the conference rooms upstairs.

Mr. Reeb says the judges are available at all hours to consider Olympics cases.

"In Sydney we had 15 cases registered. Right now we just have eight," he said. "So probably more or less we'll have the same number as Sydney. Salt Lake was where only seven cases were registered but the winter games are maybe less big, with less athletes, less federations¹⁴."

One of the more controversial cases has yet to be decided. Last week, South Korean gymnast Yang Tae-Young was given an incorrect starting value that put him in third place and handed the United States its first win in the men's gymnastics all-around title. Had Yang been given the correct starting value, he would have won the gold over Paul Hamm by just a few hundredths of a point. The sport's governing body - the International Federation of Gymnastics - acknowledged the mistake, and sent three judges home because of it. However, it insists the scores cannot be changed at this point.

The South Koreans say they plan to appeal the decision, because they were not allowed to file a complaint at the appropriate time. Mr. Reeb says if the court hears the case, it would likely only be for that reason.

"According to the previous cases we heard so far in the court of arbitration, it seems that the court will not accept to discuss the merits of the case," he said. "I mean whether or not the marks were good or wrong, this is not normally, if we follow the jurisprudence, this would not be possible to review by the panel."

Although the Court of Arbitration for Sport has been in existence since 1984, Mr. Reeb says it took 12 more years before the individual sports federations recognized the authority of the court.

"Here, like it was in Salt Lake City or Sydney, all paraticipants, all federations, all officials sign the entry form for the Olympic games, which contains an arbitration clause in favor of the Court of Arbitration for Sport," he said. "So with this clause, the court has the competence¹⁵ to be sort of the Supreme¹⁶ Court of the Olympic games to settle all disputes arising during the competitions."

The Court of Arbitration for Sport resolves not just judging disputes, but other cases as well. Last week, the court rejected the appeal of a Kenyan boxer¹⁷ expelled for a positive drug test and a Bulgarian Olympic official barred for alleged¹⁸ corruption¹⁹. It also upheld the two-year doping ban on American sprinter²⁰ Torri Edwards.

Rebecca Ward, VOA News, Athens.
注释：
mishap 灾难
taint 使玷污
imply 意味着
subjectivity 主观性
specialty 专业
foolproof 可靠的，不准确的
methodology 方法
stir 混乱
equestrian 马术运动员
Bettina Hoy贝蒂娜·霍伊
Court of Arbitration for Sport 国际体育仲裁法庭
Secretary-General 副秘书长
technicality 技术性问题
merit 荣誉，功劳
jurisdiction 权限
International Equestrian Federation 国际马术总会
overturn 推翻
procedural 程序上的
show jumping 跳跃赛
arbitration 仲裁
Holiday Inn 假日酒店
accredited 可信任的
journalist 新闻记者
available 接受采访的
Salt Lake 盐湖城
controversial 争议的
gymnast 体操运动员
Yang Tae-Young 梁泰荣
gymnastics all-around体操个人全能
International Federation of Gymnastics 国际体操联合会
jurisprudence 法学
clause 条款
in favor of 赞同, 有利于
competence 权能
Kenyan 肯尼亚
boxer 拳击运动员
Bulgarian 保加利亚的
doping 添加剂
sprinter 赛跑选手

 

1 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

2 mishaps   

n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a series of mishaps 一连串的倒霉事
• In spite of one or two minor mishaps everything was going swimmingly. 尽管遇到了一两件小小的不幸，一切都进行得很顺利。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句

5 subjectivity   

n.主观性（主观主义）

参考例句：

• In studying a problem,we must shun subjectivity.研究问题，忌带主观性。
• 'Cause there's a certain amount of subjectivity involved in recreating a face.因为在重建面部的过程中融入了太多的主观因素？

6 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

7 equestrian   

adj.骑马的；n.马术

参考例句：

• They all showed extraordinary equestrian skills.他们的骑术都很高超。
• I want to book two equestrian tickets.我想订两张马术比赛的票。

8 arbitration   

n.调停，仲裁

参考例句：

• The wage disagreement is under arbitration.工资纠纷正在仲裁中。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding.双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

11 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

12 relegated   

v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类

参考例句：

• She was then relegated to the role of assistant. 随后她被降级做助手了。
• I think that should be relegated to the garbage can of history. 我认为应该把它扔进历史的垃圾箱。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 accredited   

adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于

参考例句：

• The discovery of distillation is usually accredited to the Arabs of the 11th century. 通常认为，蒸馏法是阿拉伯人在11世纪发明的。
• Only accredited journalists were allowed entry. 只有正式认可的记者才获准入内。

14 federations   

n.联邦( federation的名词复数 )；同盟；联盟；联合会

参考例句：

• These problems are women's special problems and special work of women's federations. 这样的问题，就是妇女的特殊问题，就是妇联的特殊工作。 来自互联网
• The Bridge Federate is a feasible solution to achieve multi-federations interconnection. 基于桥接成员实现多联邦互连是目前较为通用和可行的方法。 来自互联网

15 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

16 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

17 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

18 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

19 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

20 sprinter   

n.短跑运动员，短距离全速奔跑者

参考例句：

• He is more a sprinter than a swimmer. 他是短跑健将，而不是游泳选手。 来自辞典例句
• The sprinter himself thinks he can run the race at 9.4 seconds. 这位短跑运动员自认为可以用9.4秒跑完比赛。 来自互联网