Judicial expertise

In the world of sports, the discussion of the scandal in rhythmic gymnastics that erupted at the Tokyo Olympics continues.

Over the past few days, many athletes and specialists managed to express their opinion about the situation around the sisters Dina and Arina Averin, as well as the Russian national team, who failed to win gold medals in individual and team all-around at the Games.

But if on the first day after the tournament emotional statements prevailed, then over time there were more and more detailed analyzes of what had happened.

So, the results of the performance in the individual all-around were analyzed by a number of famous athletes and judges, including Venera Zaripova, the first pupil of Irina Viner-Usmanova, who achieved success in her career.

According to her, the defeat of Dina Averina in the rivalry with the Israeli Lina Ashram is due to the changes in the rules from 2016.

“Taking into account the assessment of the complexity of the performance, the fall of the tape, which Lina allowed, lowers the assessment by 0.7 - 1.00 points. Previously, according to the old rules, falling automatically knocked a person out of the race for medals ... Now the rules in gymnastics are very clearly distributed. At one time we were brought up on pure rhythmic gymnastics: choreography, "school", clean feet, knees, hands, the basis for working with the subject - everything is beautiful, harmonious. After the introduction of the new rating system, too much has become dependent on the so-called D3 - D4: these are risks and skill. In the performance, they began to evaluate mainly acrobatics. This is an alloy, after which rhythmic gymnastics with its own school faded into the background. Many things began to be assessed in terms of risks ", - quotes Zaripova

A similar opinion was voiced by the judge of the international category in rhythmic gymnastics Lidiya Vinogradnaya.

According to her, at one time it was the Russian side that insisted on amending the rules, which later cost Averina a victory.

“According to the rules that were from 2013 to 2016 (in my opinion, one of the best rules in the entire history of gymnastics), the Averins would definitely have won.

But what can we say about the past.

Of course, Lina has performance problems (feet, elbows, knees, etc.), but due to the low influence of technical performance, no one pays attention to this.

Similarly, the Averin sisters have errors (low hip in attitude rotation, inaccurate body position in lateral tilt, and so on).

You can find fault with everyone, but it needs to happen in both directions ”, - said Vinogradnaya Sport24.

The Ukrainian judge did not ignore Ashram's mistake, but also stated that the Averina sisters performed imperfectly at the Tokyo Games.

In the case of Arina, she indicated the replacement of the ribbon, and with Dina, the unfulfilled element with the ball in the all-around final, as well as low marks for the difficulty of the body.

“In the final for the ribbon and clubs exercise, her body difficulty is in ninth place among all the participants in the final.

Here, the influence of trauma is obvious, because of which she simply could not perform more expensive elements, ”Vinogradnaya added.

In turn, the Russian judge of the international category Maria Nikolaeva emphasized that both the Ashram and the Averina sisters had the most complex programs, but expressed the opinion that the performance of the Israeli woman was more irregular. According to her, the jury at the Olympics did not pay attention to many minor mistakes on the part of Lina, and also did not punish her enough for losing the ribbon.

“From one brigade, which is called the“ technique of execution, ”we can easily see that she took two big steps and took a stick. But this loss entails not only a loss of 0.7 points, but also other mistakes in other teams. Potentially, she was not credited with the difficulties of the elements that she did not do. We do not know what the difficulties of the elements are. The gymnast can change her exercise as she goes. We see that she did not complete the high throw. With a lot of experience, we can assume that it would be a high throw and then catch, which is very expensive. She did not fulfill this element. In addition to these major mistakes that the audience can see right away, there are also mistakes that are responsible for the quality that is inherent in the work of our gymnasts. These are drawn feet, knees, perfect expressiveness. In my opinion, Dina Averina should be an Olympic champion ",- said Nikolaeva on the First Channel.

The famous Bulgarian mentor Neshka Robeva agrees with her.

She also noted that under the current rules, even the loss of an item can be compensated for with complex elements.

But at the same time, she expressed the opinion that the gold of the Games should have been given to Averina.

“There can be no sport, the results of competitions in which cause serious doubts.

I discussed the current situation with my colleagues, and we came to the conclusion that Averina, not Ashram, deserved the title of Olympic champion.

It is a pity and a shame that this happened at the Olympics, ”TASS quotes Robeva.

Averina's statements and the Ashram

Subsequently, the owners of the gold and silver medals of the Olympics shared their views on the current situation. Ashram admitted that she experienced one of the most stressful moments in her life when she watched Averina's performance with the ribbon, which closed the program of the Games in the individual all-around. The Israeli woman answered whether they talked to the Russian woman after the end of the competition, and noted that she did not hold any grudge against her rival.

“We did not communicate with Averina after the final. We didn't see each other at all because we went to the press conference. She sat down next to me, then the questions began. I'm not mad at her. In the end, she reacted in what she thought was right. I didn’t care about my medal, I didn’t think about it at all. I am an athlete-fighter, I like to compete. After the fall, I know, they climb as high as possible. The mistake on the first day of the competition made me open my eyes and the next day I became even more focused. Even when I dropped the object in the last exercise, I continued to compete. I knew my difficulty level, it was very high, I could save my result. I just wanted to do my best, ”Ashram said.

At the same time, support for the athlete was expressed by the President of Israel, Yitzhak Herzog, who advised the Ashram "not to take objections and protests to heart," and her mentor Ayelet Zussman.

The specialist said that these competitions were the best in Lina's career and asked to let her enjoy this moment herself. 

Averina herself spoke out in defense of her opponent.

“I, like Lina Ashram, are being bullied on social networks.

Yes, not all people support me.

We are not guilty of anything - this is the business of the judges.

I feel sorry for Lina - she did nothing of the kind.

No need to poison her ", - quotes Averina" Championship ".

Among other things, the silver medalist of the Games said that she has not yet analyzed the results of her personal all-around.

She also talked about what she talked about with the president of the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics (VFHG) Irina Viner-Usmanova immediately after the end of the tournament.

“I didn’t revise my performance at the Olympics - I usually do it after the competition. In connection with the current scandalous situation, it is still difficult to remember what happened. Understand, it's hard to revise this. Maybe after some time I will reconsider ... In the near future I am definitely not going to do this ... She (Viner-Usmanova. -

RT

) said: “You are great! Did everything as I asked. Today you are a real beauty and queen! Please smile and never cry, ”added Averina.

At the same time, it became known that many people in Ashram's homeland managed to make good money on her victory at the Olympics.

According to ONE, about 85% of Israelis who made bets on the results of the individual all-around competition preferred the compatriot.

And this despite the fact that the bookmaker's quotes were clearly not in her favor.

So, the coefficient for Lina's triumph ranged from 5.0 to 6.5, while the coefficient for Averina's success was 1.32.

Lavrov's assessment and comments of the Belarusian Association

According to ONE, several members of the judging panel at the Tokyo Olympics were forced to close their social media accounts due to threats from users.

It is noted that among them were Ukrainian Natalia Eremina, French Eva Simon Serrano, Argentine Ariel Milanesio and Swiss Orian Suter.

It is noteworthy that all of them were mentioned in the message by the Russian Olympic Committee.

Another scandal related to the Belarusian Gymnastics Association (BAG) erupted on social networks.

The press service of the organization on Facebook in a rather harsh manner commented on the statement of one of the Russian fans under the message of the Ukrainian judge Vinogradnaya.

“You are our pseudo-great.

Take off the crown.

If you are great, compare yourself to the great sports countries that you profuse mediocrely.

ROC number 5, ”the message says.

However, later the Belarusian Gymnastics Association issued an official statement, in which it explained the appearance of this message by unauthorized access to the organization's account and apologized for the "incorrect comments."

“The Belarusian Gymnastics Association has great respect for all countries that are successfully developing our favorite sport.

The Olympic Games in Tokyo brought together the best athletes who gave them vivid rivalry and emotions.

The Belarusian Gymnastics Association has nothing to do with emotional value judgments related to the results of rhythmic gymnastics competitions ... I especially want to support Russian gymnasts, whose victorious traditions make a huge contribution to the development of this wonderful sport.

For a long time, we have been linked by good relations with the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics, to which we have great respect, ”the publication says.

In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged to pay attention to the choice of judges who work at the Olympic Games.

“There is a feeling of bitterness for the Olympic Movement, in which there are people who promote goals far from sports and undermine the principle of fair struggle.

We're talking about "clean" athletes.

All the athletes of the Russian national team at this Olympics were "clean".

But we still need "clean" coaches and judges.

Competitions in rhythmic gymnastics have confirmed this with all clarity, "- quoted by Lavrov TASS.

The famous Russian figure skater Tatyana Totmianina also supported Averina.

The Olympic champion of Turin in pair skating called "mockery" what happened in rhythmic gymnastics at the Games and suggested that actions against Russia might not be limited to this.

“At the end of the Olympics, as if by order, the judges decided to make a final attempt to break our national team, giving low marks to the beautiful girls-gymnasts.

Yes, it's a shame.

Yes, it hurts!

To tears!

But how can this weaken us?

No!

What's next?

In winter, women's figure skating will be taken away from us, where are we ahead of the rest of the world ?!

The more we resent, the more pressure on international associations will be.

And the less chance that this will happen again, ”wrote Totmianina on Instagram.

In turn, the Olympic champion in women's single skating Oksana Baiul did not see anything criminal in Ashram's victory and compared her triumph with Alina Zagitova's victory at the Games in Pyeongchang.

“I don’t understand what is the scandal? The athlete went out, did his own thing, he was given a mark. Remember my 1994 Olympics. In 2018, when Medvedeva and Zagitova competed, the situation was the same. Medvedeva won an arbitrary, but this was not enough for gold. Yes, I was more rooting for Medvedev, ”wrote Bayul.