Olympic Judging

[eldirector]

What's with all the subjective "judged" sports (or, should I say performances) in the winter Olympics? Are any of these straight-up competitions?

I didn't realize ski jumping had "style points". Always thought it was all about distance. Not how good you looked doing it. Would totally suck to out jump everyone by a mile, and lose the medal because you wiggled too much.

Snow boarding, ski tricks, and (of course) figure skating are all judged. I guess skeleton, bobsled, some of the downhill skiing, speed skating, and hockey are all purely objective.

Some of it is cool to watch. I certainly couldn't do a single one of these events without hurting myself. Guess it is the old performance vs. sport conversation.

 

[87iroc]

Yah...I had a problem with Snowboarding the other night. It seemed like they had their favorites picked and the announcers were baffled why some weren't scoring higher.

I think the Russians? Maybe got caught in figure skating a few years ago 'fixing' events.

Anyway...my family and I enjoy watching...love the olympics and look forward to them every 2 years.

 

[dugsagun]

Yah, my dad and i noticed that too , especially with the ski long jump. We were both like, wtf, style points?! Hopefully its just something they try at these olympics and not others after it. Maybe all the russian meddling into everything has something to do with it as someone else has said.

 

[Spear Dane]

I quit watching. Had it with all the cheating, abuse and fraud.

 

[rob63]

I understand the judging in ski jumping simply because the best jumpers all jump about the same distance anyway and they have to make other adjustments for wind, starting position, etc. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I prefer events without judges, but I can understand why they do it.

I don't give a hoot about figure skating, but I have heard them talk about it enough to be aware of how truly screwed up the judging is in that event. You can score more points for falling down while attempting a difficult trick then you can for successfully completing an easier trick. Consequently, some of them intentionally include tricks that they can't actually do in their programs. Someone that falls down attempting a quadruple jump can defeat someone successfully completing a triple jump. That makes no sense.

I watching the biathlon, which is the event where they cross-country ski and then shoot a rifle. The commentator mentioned that it is the only Olympic sport in which the U.S. has never won a medal. Seriously? An event that includes shooting is the only one we have always sucked at?

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I would enjoy seeing some of the events like ski jumping, slope style or snowboarding, bob sledding or luge, but it seems like every time I go to watch part of the Olympics, the only thing on is ice dancing or figure skating which don't interest me in the least. And yes, I know that's what DVRs are for, but I'm not that dedicated.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

I've been streaming some select events online. I caught a 15K biathlon this morning. I was glad I could do that for Rio; it seemed like just about all they'd show on the main TV channel was beach volleyball.

 

[rob63]

I would enjoy seeing some of the events like ski jumping, slope style or snowboarding, bob sledding or luge, but it seems like every time I go to watch part of the Olympics, the only thing on is ice dancing or figure skating which don't interest me in the least. And yes, I know that's what DVRs are for, but I'm not that dedicated.

It certainly helps if you are a morning person like I am. The good stuff is shown live from 2 am - 9 am. The ice skating is shown taped in prime time. Works well for me because I fall asleep during prime time anyway.

 

[Gabriel]

Didn't realize this was going on right now.

 

[IndyIN]

I don't give a hoot about figure skating, but I have heard them talk about it enough to be aware of how truly screwed up the judging is in that event. You can score more points for falling down while attempting a difficult trick then you can for successfully completing an easier trick. Consequently, some of them intentionally include tricks that they can't actually do in their programs. Someone that falls down attempting a quadruple jump can defeat someone successfully completing a triple jump. That makes no sense.

For me, it make a lot of sense. This forces some innovation, otherwise you would see the same old safe routine over and over again (I'll admit, they all look the same to me anyway). To be clear, someone can't come out and fall on every complex jump and beat someone who landed every single lesser jump. It does keep someone from being penalized harshly for trying something hard, with the other factors being equal.

I think "judging" will get more interesting as artificial intelligence capabilities get even better. All Skynet jokes aside, AI could be a great tool for these types of events. For ski jumping, AI could evaluate the live feed and determine whose jump was more complex based on all the factors (wind, how much wiggle/movement...) at any given point during the competition. A wind gust in a skiers face mid jump would be a factor that that could be accounted for.

 

[EvilElmo]

I've been saying it for many years now - IMHO any sport that requires judges to decide who wins isn't a sport and has no place in the Olympics. The only events allowed should be things that can be quantitatively measured - speed, distance, etc. Yes that includes diving and gymnastics in the summer - get rid of them all.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

It certainly helps if you are a morning person like I am. The good stuff is shown live from 2 am - 9 am. The ice skating is shown taped in prime time. Works well for me because I fall asleep during prime time anyway.

Well I usually get up around 3:15 or 3:30 a.m., and so far I've mainly only managed to catch the skating. They may be showing other events but once I see skating I change the channel.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I've been saying it for many years now - IMHO any sport that requires judges to decide who wins isn't a sport and has no place in the Olympics. The only events allowed should be things that can be quantitatively measured - speed, distance, etc. Yes that includes diving and gymnastics in the summer - get rid of them all.

Ernest Hemmingway once said that the only true "sports" were bull fighting, mountain climbing and auto racing. The rest were just games.