Canada appeals loss in women’s taekwondo 49k
After Gonda lost her preliminary taekwondo match, Canada launched a protest claiming the judging was unfair. There were many kicks that could/should have scored in the match, but no points were awarded to Gonda in the match. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who thought she should have had more points. (See the CBC article and scroll down to the comments.) The quarterfinals for the women’s 49k start at 3:00 a.m. EST. So far rumour has it that the appeal has been dismissed. As of writing, the final results still lists Sweden’s Zajc as advancing to the quarterfinals and not Canada’s Gonda.
The Olympics are supposed to be using the competition rules as set by the WTF. According to these Rules of Competition, three or more judges must agree to score a point. More specifically (Article 13: Scoring and Publication),
3.
In the use of electronic trunk protectors
A. Valid points scored on the mid-section of the trunk shall be recorded automatically by the transmitter in the electronic trunk protector.
B. Valid points scored to the face shall be marked by each judge by using the electronic scoring instrument or judge’s scoring sheet.
4.
In the case of scoring with an electronic scoring instrument or on a judge’s scoring sheet, valid points shall be those recognized by at least three or more judges.
I’m not sure if electronic trunk protectors were used, but it looked as if the judges were using the hand-held scoring devices. The other issue with scoring points is that the judges may not see the kicks if you aren’t positioned in a clear field of view. I noticed in this match, the Swedish competitor was blocking the view of one of the judges – whether or not this was intentional is unclear.
This is not the first protest against unfair judging. Earlier, a Swedish wrestler who won the bronze match gave up his medal and walked away from the podium and medal ceremony. He lost the match that would have advanced him to the gold medal match. (His opponent went on to win the gold.) The Swedish wrestler was angry after the match due to unfair judging and only went on with the bronze medal match after discussing it with friends and family.
~~~C
Correction:
The taekwondo competition is single-elimination with repechage. This means that if Sweden’s Zajc makes it to the final round (the gold match), Canada’s Gonda will be entered in the repechage rounds and have a chance to compete for bronze medal.
Unfortunately, as of writing it looks like Zajc will lose to China’s Wu Jingyu.
[Reply]
Comment by fey Morgaina — 2008/08/20 @ 02:22
China’s Wu wins 8-1 over Sweden’s Zajc with a quick axe kick knocking the Swedish opponent to the ground.
Because Zajc did not advance to the final match (the gold match), Gonda is not entered into the repechage rounds, and no longer has a chance for a bronze medal.
~~~C
[Reply]
Comment by fey Morgaina — 2008/08/20 @ 02:28