What do you think is the effect of dodgy judging in sports?
Answers
Explanation:
In sports such as gymnastics and figure skating, scoring decisions have fallen under growing scrutiny in recent years as the breadth, depth and intensity of sports coverage in print and broadcast media continue to rise, along with the sums of money involved.
However, technological solutions such as Hawk-Eye, which can determine the most likely trajectory of a moving ball and is used most effectively in tennis and cricket, are not available for these disciplines, which are scored almost entirely on technique. Consequently, the task of scoring falls to a panel of highly qualified, experienced – but ultimately fallible – human beings, working in a noisy and often disagreeable live environment.
Each judge reports a score within a finite range for each performance and, while guidelines exist to assist them in making this determination, and outlying scores are discarded before the remainder are aggregated, each score is inevitably subjective in nature.
The consequences of perceived erratic judging can be profound. The most famous scoring controversy in recent memory occurred in 2002 at the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, US, where a scandal in the pairs skating event threatened to overshadow the entire games. It resulted in Canada and original victors Russia sharing the gold medal following an enquiry by the International Skating Union (ISU).