"FIG lacks reasoned answers": why it is too early to put an end to the scandal with rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympic Games

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has commented on the refereeing scandal that erupted at the Tokyo Summer Olympics. The organization issued a statement on behalf of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee, which states that all results in this sport are recognized as objective.

“The FIG Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee conducted a thorough post-competition study of all evaluation components for each phase of the rhythmic gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Based on the results of this process, we can confirm that there were no cases of bias or irregularities on the part of the referees.

Thus, the Committee confirms that the distribution of places and the results of the Olympic Games in individual and group competitions in rhythmic gymnastics are fair and impartial, ”the statement says.

The FIG assured that strict criteria have been set for judges at the Olympic Games in order to select the most qualified and unbiased among them.

The organization said it was satisfied with their performance and also expressed support for the arbitrators who were pressured for their ratings.

“We were shocked when we learned that some of the judges from the rhythmic gymnastics teams received many threats and offensive messages after the Olympic competition.

These attempts to influence the arbitrators are absolutely unacceptable.

The Federation wants to make it very clear that these judges will receive our full support and are worthy of high praise for their work, ”the technical committee said in a statement.

The rhythmic gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympics caused a strong reaction among fans and professionals.

For the first time since 1996, Russian athletes were left without gold medals - in the individual all-around Dina Averina became the second after the Israeli Lina Ashram, and in the group exercises the Russians lost to the Bulgarian girls.

The main complaints about the work of the judges concerned the ratings of the Ashram.

Gymnastics dropped the ribbon during the last exercise in the final, but still managed to get ahead of Averina by 0.150 points, although she did not make such serious mistakes in any type of program.

The Russian Olympic Committee then demanded an explanation from the FIG on the results of the competition and a detailed analysis of the judges' marks, and at the same time comment on what caused the long delay before the announcement of the final result by Averina.

The FIG's statement that there were no mistakes on the part of the judges did not satisfy the president of the All-Russian Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics Irina Viner-Usmanova.

She declared her readiness to seek revision of the results.

“This is to be expected.

We are preparing further materials on this case and do not intend to stop.

There were illegal actions during the competition, unregulated stops, our protests were not considered according to the rules.

If Dina made a mistake of 0.15, which would have cost her a gold medal, it would be clearly visible, "Viner-Usmanova told TASS.

The next day, there was a reaction from the OCD.

The head of the delegation at the Tokyo Olympics, Andrei Konotkin, said that FIG Secretary General Nicholas Buompan also sent a letter to the ROC, in which he explicitly refused to provide a video analysis of the athletes' performances and publish detailed protocols of assessments and penalty points, by which it would be possible to understand why the results of the competition turned out to be just that.

“The FIG's position on the basis of this official statement is understandable and perhaps even explainable. However, it completely lacks reasoned answers to the questions that I, as the head of the ROC delegation, addressed the FIG and the IOC. It is simply pointless to comment on the absolutely formal reaction to our first request of August 7 regarding the situation with refereeing in the individual all-around. Unfortunately, the document we have received now, unfortunately, also does not contain any information on an objective and detailed analysis of the decisions of each of the judges, on the correspondence of the points given to Dina Averina from the point of view of an independent examination, on the absence of direct or indirect conflicts of interest in the formation of a panel of arbitrators for data competitions,in fact, more than a long pause for calculating the final mark after the final performance of the Russian gymnast, "- said Konotkin.

He added that now rhythmic gymnastics lacks openness and transparency in determining the results.

Neither fans nor experts have access to the judges' estimates and their calculations, while the Olympic sports urgently need to have clear and understandable criteria for judging that will not leave questions.

Konotkin also said that the scandal that occurred at the Olympics interested the first vice-president of FIG Vasily Titov.

He himself sent an additional protest, which will be considered by the executive committee of the federation, which occupies a higher place in its structure.

“Vasily Nikolayevich, like us, was not satisfied with the lack of any meaningful reaction from the FIG. We consider it a fair decision to use all available resources in order to get clarifications on topical and well-grounded issues. We continue to work, we continuously provide support, including legal and diplomatic support, to our colleagues from the gymnastics community and we are in constant contact with our representative in FIG, "the ROC representative added.