Top 10 Most Controversial Decisions By Olympic Judges
#10: Anders Haugen’s Overdue Medal (ANN-durs HAO-ghin)
Chamonix, France (1924) Excluding art competitions, Oscar Swahn (shvaun) became the oldest Olympian to win a medal at age 72. To a certain extent, you could argue that ski jumper Anders Haugen has Swahn beat, receiving a bronze medal at age 86. The thing is that Haugen actually earned his medal 50 years earlier when he was in his mid-30s. You see, Haugen finished third in ski jumping, but due to a clerical error, Thorleif Haug (toor-LIFE haog) was awarded the bronze medal. Although Haugen had his suspicions, many thought that he came in fourth for five decades. That is until historian Jakob Vaage (yah-ub vogue-eh) realized that Haugen exceeded Haug by 0.095 points. In September 1974, Haug’s youngest daughter met Haugen in Norway where she finally presented him with the bronze.
#9: Protest on the Parallel Bars
Athens, Greece (2004) A 9.9 is nothing to scoff at. If South Korean gymnast Yang Tae-young (yawng tay yeung) had scored 0.1 more on the parallel bars, though, he might’ve walked away with gold rather than bronze. Many felt that he should’ve gotten a perfect score, so much so that the Korean Olympic Committee protested along with Yang. The International Gymnastics Federation, or FIG, concluded that there was indeed an error, leading to the suspension of three judges. However, FIG refused to alter the outcome because they waited too long to file the protest. Although an appeal was entered, American Paul Hamm ultimately retained the gold while Yang’s teammate, Kim Dae-Eun (kim day yeun), followed with silver. “I want to go back in time and try again,” Yang said twelve years later.
#8: Boxing Backlash
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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2016) Olympic scoring can get needlessly complex. Take the 2016 boxing tournaments for example. Under a new set of rules, five judges participated, but a computer randomly picked only three scores. Then, instead of simply counting each punch, each round’s winner received 10 points while the loser received a lower score. Through this controversial system, Vasily Levit (VASSA-lee LEV-itt) lost the men’s heavyweight to Evgeny Tishchenko (tish-SHENG-koh) while Michael Conlan lost the men’s bantamweight quarter-final to Vladimir Nikitin (nih-KEE-tin). While disappointed, Levit took the loss in stride, gesturing the audience not to boo Tishchenko at the medal ceremony. Conlan gave the judges a more insulting gesture, calling the International Boxing Association (AIBA) corrupt. Many agreed the scores were manipulated and although AIBA would make changes, the outcomes remain the same.
#7: Trouble on the Ice
Nagano, Japan (1998) More than a few people got the cold shoulder at the 1998 Winter Olympics. Days after winning gold at the men’s giant slalom competition, snowboarder Ross Rebagliati (rebly-atty) got disqualified thanks to a positive marijuana test. Figure skating also attracted controversy when Yuri Balkov, a judge from Ukraine, was accused of rigging the competition. Jean Senft (sennfed), a Canadian judge, claimed that Balkov offered to show favoritism to Canada. In exchange, Balkov asked Senft to vote for the Ukrainian skaters. Senft recorded the conversation, leading to Balkov’s suspension. Canada would ultimately place fourth in figure skating that year. Despite the scandal, Balkov would be back to judge figure skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics where Canada came in third in overall figure skating medals.
#6: 400m Walkover
London, United Kingdom (1908) If you’re an American visiting the U.K., you might pick up on a few little differences. For example, French fries are known as “chips” and potato chips are called “crisps.” At the 1908 Summer Olympics, American runner John Carpenter found that the U.S. rules for the men’s 400m race aren’t identical to the British guidelines. Carpenter used a maneuver to stop British runner Wyndham Halswelle (halls-well) from getting ahead of him. Although this move was legal back in the States, the British opposed it and Carpenter was disqualified. A re-race was ordered, but American runners William Robbins and John Taylor refused to compete in protest. This left Halswelle to claim the gold, resulting in the Olympics’ first and only walkover.
#5: Mysterious Person in Black
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Grenoble, France (1968) Everyone was talking about French alpine ski racer Jean-Claude Killy at the 1968 Winter Olympics. Part of that’s because Killy achieved three gold medals, dominating every alpine event. However, one of Killy’s victories was challenged by Karl Schranz (shrawnz), an Austrian rival. Schranz claimed that a mysterious figure clouded in darkness passed in front of him on the course, forcing him to stop. Schranz was thus allowed to race again, this time beating Kelly. Shortly after, though, it was discovered that Schranz missed a couple of gates, resulting in his disqualification. Despite Schranz’s appeal, Killy’s status as a three-time gold medalist was restored. As for the stranger that Schranz supposedly saw on the slopes, that remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in Olympic history.
#4: “Greatest Athlete” Denied His Medals
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Stockholm, Sweden (1912) From the Associated Press to King Gustav V of Sweden, many described Jim Thorpe as the world’s “greatest athlete” during his lifetime. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Thorpe won two gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon. In due course, Thorpe became the first Native American to bring home the gold for the U.S. Unfortunately, he was stripped of these victories because he had played professional baseball before competing in the Olympics. Thorpe passed away in 1953, but in 1982, the IOC Executive Committee overturned his disqualification. It was argued that Thorpe had been disqualified after the 30-day time limit. Replicas of the medals were given to his children, and Thorpe was deemed a co-winner with Hugo Wieslander and Ferdinand Bie.
#3: Figure Skating Judging System
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Salt Lake City, Utah, United States (2002) The 2002 Winter Olympics had no shortage of scandals. Salt Lake City was accused of bribery to host the Olympics after four previous attempts. American Apolo Ohno received backlash from South Korea after a confrontation with Kim Dong-Sung (DUENG-sung) resulted in his disqualification. However, few competitions inspired more controversy than figure skating. While Jamie Salé and David Pelletier of Canada seemed to have it in the bag, Russia’s Elena Berezhnaya (uh-LAY-nuh bare-ezh-NYE-ah) and Anton Sikharulidze (SEE-HHHAR-oo-LEETS-uh) beat them out. After many TV commentators criticized this outcome, judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne of France claimed that she had been pressured to award Russia. Although Le Gougne later backtracked on her claims, the IOC ultimately decided to grant gold medals to both pairs. The ISU Judging System saw a revamp shortly after.
#2: Roy Jones Jr. Gets Robbed
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Seoul, South Korea (1988) American boxer Roy Jones Jr. was on fire at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Although the future World Champion was only a newcomer at the time, he didn’t lose a single match leading up to the final where he went up against South Korea’s Park Si-Hun (pak she hun). Three rounds later, Jones got in 86 punches while Park only landed 32. So naturally, Park was declared the victor. Wait, what? Yeah, even Park was supposedly caught off, seeing the need to apologize to Jones. As referee Aldo Leoni held up Park’s hand, he reportedly muttered to Jones, “I can’t believe they’re doing this to you.” The three judges that denied Jones the gold were suspended after one admitted that Park shouldn’t have won.
#1: Cold War on the Basketball Court
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Munich, Bavaria, West Germany (1972) From 1936 to 1972, the U.S. men’s basketball team maintained a perfect track record with seven consecutive gold medals and not a single loss. Many would argue that they should’ve had eight straight victories. Facing off against the Soviet Union during the finals, Doug Collins seemingly secured America the win following a second free throw with just three seconds left on the clock. After the Soviets were controversially given three inbound plays, though, the U.S. team lost at 51–50. With the 1972 Games taking place in Munich and Cold War tensions rising, many argued that there was a bias against America. The U.S. team felt that they had been robbed, refusing to accept their silver medals, which remain locked up in Switzerland.
