China Suspected of Foul Play in Olympic Gymnastics

I don't really think it is a Chinese conspiracy or anything. I just think the Olympics have some issues they need to work out with judging and scoring. I didn't follow it closely, but I remember some judging controversies with ice skating a few years back.

You're right Buster -- I had never really though about it, but scored and timed events are much more ideal. I think that's what the IOC tried to do with gymnastics, but it doesn't seem to be working as it should.

The new scoring system removed all limits to cheating.

Before, there was a max score, a "perfect 10". Now, there is no maximum possible score. Judges can give more points to a gymnast after scoring a technically perfect routine. This also leaves the possibility for "corrections" to previous scoring mistakes they realize they may have made, but will only benefit some of the gymnasts.

At least before, there could be a tie for the top. Now, all they have to do is give a certain performer they favor .001 points more so they win, which they can do without a 0-10 scoring system.

Basically, the judges can now pull random scores out of their butts without any restrictions.

The new scoring system removed all limits to cheating.

Before, there was a max score, a "perfect 10". Now, there is no maximum possible score. Judges can give more points to a gymnast after scoring a technically perfect routine. This also leaves the possibility for "corrections" to previous scoring mistakes they realize they may have made, but will only benefit some of the gymnasts.

At least before, there could be a tie for the top. Now, all they have to do is give a certain performer they favor .001 points more so they win, which they can do without a 0-10 scoring system.

Basically, the judges can now pull random scores out of their butts without any restrictions.
Not totally sure but I don't think they can award more than 10 points for execution. Each routine gets and A and a B score. One is for diffculty and one is for execution. So if you do a 7.5 vault and land on your ass (say a .8 deduction) then you'd get and 16.7 score (7.5+10-.8).

But how they score the execution is essentially subjective as well as how they judge the actual difficulty. If the routine starts at a 7.5 but the performer fails to connect certain elements properly or doesn't actually do an element that counted towards the 7.5 then the 7.5 can be reduced also.

Take a look at how the Olympics score track and field:

The Hidden Complexity of the Olympics | Cosmic Variance (http://cosmicvariance.com/2008/08/19/the-hidden-complexity-of-the-olympics/)

Here's some interesting research into He's real age:
Stryde Hax: Hack the Olympics! (http://strydehax.blogspot.com/2008/08/hack-olympics.html)
Stryde Hax: Olympic Hacking Part II - Let's go for the Gold (http://strydehax.blogspot.com/2008/08/olympic-hacking-part-ii-lets-go-for.html)

So now they're going to "investigate" this stuff based on that guys findings. Although this sorta seems like a BS investigation when they make comments like "We believe the matter will be put to rest and there's no question ... on the eligibility".

The biggest laod of crap was this little nugget from the cheating coach "It's not just me. The parents of our athletes are all very indignant," Lu said. "They have faced groundless suspicion. Why aren't they believed? Why are their children suspected? Their parents are very angry."

Are these the same parents that none of the children have seen for over a year? The same parents that were so isolated from their children that the gymnasts didn't even know if they had attended the games to see them compete?'

Yes, being a gymnast in China is equivalent to being in a boarding school. They are taken from their families.

WP just ran an article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/02/AR2008080201271.html) on China's "sports schools". IMO, they can have the medal count if this is what it takes to "compete".