NationStates Jolt Archive

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/gymnastics/08/22/bc.olympics.gymnastics.khorkina/index.html?cnn=yes

"I'm just furious," Khorkina, who had been favorite for the coveted title, was quoted as saying in the daily Izvestia. "I knew well in advance, even before I stepped on the stage for my first event, that I was going to lose."

"Everything was decided in advance. I had no illusions about this when the judges gave me 9.462 for the vault after conferring with one another at length.

"I practically did everything right, still they just set me up and fleeced me," she said in the interview published on Saturday.

She gives a horrible reason as to why, however.

Asked why she felt she was marked down by the judges, Khorkina said: "You better ask them. I think it's because I'm from Russia, not from America!"



I think she's just pissed. I mean, really.

The Russian was also favorite for the all-round title four years ago in Sydney, where her hopes were dashed after she crashed to her knees from the vault. It was later discovered the horse had been set five centimeters too short.

I guess she'd have a reason to blame the olympic's for that...but yeah, I agree... She's hella mad.

I think she's just nuts.
However, I the Olympics seem to be a hotbed of corruption.

I dont know ... the judges got to know that the whole world is watching.

Hard to get away with anything

Though what previously happened to her (the 5 cm thing) now that was just plain wrong ... she should have gotten another chance

See? This is why ajudicated sports like gymnastics, figure skating, and diving are BS. "This guy was slightly better than this guy, so say we..." Then why isn't Ballet a sport? BS. Run faster, jump farther, score more points. Dammit.

Two years ago, the Canadians (Jamie Sale and David Pelletier) got the shaft in figure skating at the Winter Olympics. I still remember some Yahoo! message boards that had people from European countries who were whining how they though the Russians should have won the gold when they were flat-out worse than the Canadians.

Now the Russians are crying foul because the Americans won? Are they trying to suggest that it was a judge's make-up call or something?

That is the problem with events where judging is such a vital part of the performance. Judging is a very subjective science (except for the penalties for a hop on a landing or a fall on the ice), and no matter how fair or unfair the judges are, they are quickly labelled crooked if they didn't see things one country's way or the way the fans saw it.

I used to judge debate during forensics tournaments. There were times when it was darn near dead even, and you had to make what was often a subjective decision about who "won" or "lost." And then, if you worked with other judges at an event, you had to balance your own sensibilities with theirs.

....the Olympics seem to be a hotbed of corruption.
I think so...

This is 2002 all over again with that bogus gold medal going to the Russians...and she has the nerve to gripe about the Olympics being rigged when it worked to the Russians' benefit two years ago? Besides, I doubt that they would rig the Games for the U.S. anyway, since most of the world wants to see the U.S. get the everloving snot beaten out of them as it is. This is just another Russian Olympian whining and blaming the U.S. We saw plenty of that in 2002 over...I want to say ice hockey...

See? This is why ajudicated sports like gymnastics, figure skating, and diving are BS. "This guy was slightly better than this guy, so say we..." Then why isn't Ballet a sport? BS. Run faster, jump farther, score more points. Dammit.True that...

I didn't see it, but from what I've read, she didn't stick the landings on her floor routine, the American did, and in the end - that made the difference. Doesn't sound rigged, it just sounds like she wanted to only be judged on grace, rather than on grace and athleticism. The Olympics are about athleticism, so I think that part is rightly balanced higher in the scoring.

These Russians seemt to be good at making themselves look bad losers.

The Olympics aren't as corrupt as the Eurovision song festival. (which isn't worth watching anyway, plus, it spawned the psychological terror warcrime called "Dragosta tin dei".)

She got a bad deal in Sydney. Here, she may have been overconfident; she was awkward on the uneven bars, I thought. And the announcer said immediately, prior to the scoring, that she messed up the vault.

I don't like any sport, like figure skating or diving, where success depends upon subjective judging. Races and competitions for distance and strength are more pure and clean because there is no one for the loser to blame other than herself.

I don't like any sport, like figure skating or diving, where success depends upon subjective judging. I do not like those either..

Well not talking about the possibilities of corruption, she didn't do as well as the others in a few of her performances.

It was a tight race and even the tinest of errors can be bad.

She wanted a gold for retirement and she is pissed. But that is the way of a diva.....

Now Paul Homm is a different thing. How do you accidentally apply the wrong score?

Now Paul Homm is a different thing. How do you accidentally apply the wrong score?
By accident?

The vaults between the two were nearly identical. Carly had a little more height in her vault, something the announcers prattled on and on about, saying the judges look for that as a plus. So maybe that makes the difference. Either way, the little Romanian girl was probably the best but she didn't win and you don't hear her complaining.

The Russian screwed up on the uneven bars too when it came time for the individual medals. Was this someone else's fault? Yeah, she got a bum deal in Sydney, but she also messed up there on the uneven bars as well.

Someone call Tanya Harding to see if she cares.

On another note, I fail to see why Paul Hamm should have to give up his gold. He won, even though the judges made an error. It clearly states that the Koreans had a timeframe within which they could point out the problem and didn't do it until well after the event was over. They didn't play by the rules and it hurt their gymnast. You don't hear anyone trying to help out our marksman who was on his way to the gold when he shot at the wrong target. He hit that target but still scored a 0, dropping him from 1st to 8th.

The Olympics have some tough rules. Remember the Seoul Olympics when our gold medal favorite boxer got into a taxi which took him to the wrong place?

....
Someone call Tanya Harding to see if she cares.

On another note, I fail to see why Paul Hamm should have to give up his gold. He won,...Paul Hamm won? :confused:
GO USA! GO USA!! :D

Tonya Harding! Man the brings back memories... actually, the only thing I can remember is that Tonya Harding hired Osana Bayul to attack Nancy Karrigan with a large metal rod...

Tonya Harding! Man the brings back memories... actually, the only thing I can remember is that Tonya Harding hired Osana Bayul to attack Nancy Karrigan with a large metal rod...Osama Bay Laden!! :D

First, Khorkina is, always has been, and always will be a drama queen.

Much like Michael Jackson is the self-proclaimed "King of Pop", Khorkina is the self-proclaimed Diva of Russian Gymnastics.

Now, Khorkina has had some bad breaks, mostly notably Sydney 2000 when she fell on the vault, like many others, and it afterwards became apparent that there was a technical problem with the vault height that was the fault of the competition coordinators and not the gymnasts themselves. This was an accident and affected gymnasts of all nationalities. Even though all the gymnasts that had vaulted on the faulty apparatus were given the oppurtunity to drop their score and re-vault, Khorkina had already fallen on another apparatus and the emotional and numerical damage was too great to recover from.

Athens 2004, however, was not a similar situation. Olympics gymnastics is ultimately a SUBJECTIVE sport, and very often the judge's opinions differ from the athletes. She wasn't best, she was second best. Also, soon after losing to Carly Patterson and winning the silver medal, she was quoted as saying, "I think it's the best day of my life." No mention of unfair judging, although such an accustation at that point in time would have been just as silly as it is now.

I find it depressing that she would make such a claim, especially in light of the REAL mistake made by the judges in men's all-around. That's the issue that should get the real attention, not the incessant (and all too familar, in the case of Khorkina) whining of a "diva" who finds her career three invidual olympic medals to be less than she deserves.

...How do you accidentally apply the wrong score?It was a Colombian Judge!...not an American one...I mean Why on earth would a Colombian Judge want to Cheat...
Besides the Colombians have a Trademarked Reputation for being Corruption-Proof...They are as Clean as Mountain Ice. :D

I want to say ice hockey...

and then we beat both of your teams

HAHAHAHAHA

In the olympics, the rules are always bent to benefit the americans whenever it is possible to get away with it.

In the olympics, the rules are always bent to benefit the americans whenever it is possible to get away with it.

And just what evidence is there of that?

In the olympics, the rules are always bent to benefit the americans whenever it is possible to get away with it.
Yeah right … be fair. In the Olympics we have no advantages :) just as it should be (with the world watching our every move)

Yeah right … be fair. In the Olympics we have no advantages :) just as it should be (with the world watching our every move)


Having the money, a large drug and biotechnology industry. There is probally a good chance that the US has advantages over lesser well off countries who only have access to the detectable drugs.

Having the money, a large drug and biotechnology industry. There is probally a good chance that the US has advantages over lesser well off countries who only have access to the detectable drugs.
yes...we're the ONLY country that does that...sad...

And if you look at how many medals a country has as a representation of this...well then, China is a big bad guy too!

And so are these countries:
Russia
Australia
Japan
Germany
France
Great Britan
South Korea
and Italy



really, just stop the stereotyping. Just because we have the money doesn't mean we train less. And what the hell do you need to train? You need the space, and the right equipment. You can find that ANYWHERE in the world.

As a longtime Khorkina fan, you'd think I'd agree with her, but I don't. Carly Patterson won fair and square, in my mind. Had the games been in America, I would have been more suspicious, and agreed with Khorkina, as everyone knows American athletes are usually scored a lot better in their own country.

But this was Greece. A fairly neutral country. Maybe I'm just sentimental, but I just can't see corruption in the country where the first Olympics took place.

Asylum Nova, who is proud to be a fan of Khorkina, and wishes her the best in all she chooses to do. ^^

In the olympics, the rules are always bent to benefit the americans whenever it is possible to get away with it.

Sniffle.....

everyone knows American athletes are usually scored a lot better in their own country.


Is home-crowd advantage non-existant? Perhaps they lose all the pressure of competing if they are within their own country. I'd certainly would be a lot more uncomfortable running a race in Athens than I would in New York.

To all you guys from other countries, how much olympic coverage do your networks show? here in new zealand we have at least 12 hours every day :D

well we got 24H coverage thanks to the CBC (I call it the Canadian Olympic network)

Why am I not surprised that we'd hear another athlete complain the game is fixed for the U.S.?

It's high time these athletes face the fact--they lost. Yes, they lost to an American, which seems to other countries as to add insult to the defeat. Train harder, get a better attitude, and you'll win.

Having the money, a large drug and biotechnology industry. There is probally a good chance that the US has advantages over lesser well off countries who only have access to the detectable drugs.

Yeah, those East Germans in the 70s and 80s never had any illegal advantages. America is the only country that cheats.

yes...we're the ONLY country that does that...sad...

And if you look at how many medals a country has as a representation of this...well then, China is a big bad guy too!

...

really, just stop the stereotyping. Just because we have the money doesn't mean we train less. And what the hell do you need to train? You need the space, and the right equipment. You can find that ANYWHERE in the world.

Lol reminds me of ROCKY IV :) (was on last night) lol where the russian was in the lab with all the drugs and the american was in a shack with SPACE and like snow and stuff :)

LOL sorry just seemed funny

Yeah, those East Germans in the 70s and 80s never had any illegal advantages. America is the only country that cheats.


Whent they banned from the olimpics until they reformed with the west becuse of that?

Whent they banned from the olimpics until they reformed with the west becuse of that?

I don't know if they were banned from the Olympics, but after they reunited with West Germany all these stories eventually came out about how East German coaches would force athletes to use steroids. There was one story that was in SI a few years back about a former East German female weightlifter who had a sex change operation to become a man because all the steroids she'd taken gave her so many masculine features that she felt better being a man than a woman.

Yeah, those East Germans in the 70s and 80s never had any illegal advantages. America is the only country that cheats.


That was then when they had the medical advantage. Medical advancement seems to lay really where the money is now, wonder which country that would be, doubt people would need more than one guess, aye?

That was then when they had the medical advantage. Medical advancement seems to lay really where the money is now, wonder which country that would be, doubt people would need more than one guess, aye?Well...this is the Olympics...Best Doctors win...

That was then when they had the medical advantage. Medical advancement seems to lay really where the money is now, wonder which country that would be, doubt people would need more than one guess, aye?

Granted, but let's not pretend like America is the only nation guilty and the rest of the world is pure as freshly fallen snow.

...America is the only country that cheats.nope...most countries do.

Granted, but let's not pretend like America is the only nation guilty and the rest of the world is pure as freshly fallen snow.You have a point.

nope...most countries do.

Way to misquote me.

Way to misquote me.I happen to totally agree with you...

I happen to totally agree with you...

About what? What are you talking about? I'm confused.

About what? What are you talking about? I'm confused.I dont think that...only the US uses the Medical Technologies...