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Chen Yibing coach protests to judges: Do you feel the sin in your soul?
August 6, 2012 | Posted in Sports, London Olympics
Despite the loss, Chen Yibing finishes gracefully with a hug to his opponent and a flash of his signature smile. "To be honest, my heart hurts, but I've learned more than winning and losing in these four years. I can accept wins and I can accept losses. I have no regrets today. I've done everything I can."
I think everyone watching was shocked by the loss of Chen Yibing to Brazilian gymnast Arthur Nabarrete Zanetti on Monday. Zanetti is a brilliant gymnast, but Chen Yibings performance was near perfection. Both the Italian and Chinese head coaches have openly criticized the scores, believing that Chen Yibing shouldve won the gold. In his message on Sina, Chinese head gymnastics coach Huang Yubin calls the night a dark night in the history of gymnastics and an injury to every one in the world who loves gymnastics. He concludes by asking the IOC and FIG to investigate the judges and scores. The letter is translated from the words of Huang Yubin as edited by Sina Sports by idarklight@Cfensi.
The sprinkling rain in the London night makes one filled with chill. It hasnt been like this in several days, but it is so today. Are even the heavens feeling injustice and indignation for Yibing? The trustworthy team leader of the Chinese gymnastics team, Chen Yibing gave the world his most perfect performance of his life at this finals, but did not get the champion that he deserves.
From Beijing to London, the Chinese gymnastics team has not had it easy. The coaches and athletes prepared rigorously, and Yibing especially has been filled with injuries. Everything hes been through is beyond what one can imagination. He endured it, persevered it, pursued it, only to scratch shoulders with the gymnasts biggest pursuits. Who would ever think that he, filled with success and confidence, would have the biggest regret as his athletic journey comes to an end.
I believe that most of the world will respect my team member and will cheer for his extraordinary performance from the heart. But the judges today did not. They chose to let the Brazilian athlete with an obvious flawed performance to stand on the highest podium. I think this isnt just an injury to the Chinese gymnastics team, and not just an injury to Chen Yibing, but also an injury to everyone in the world who loves gymnastics.
Judges are the arbitrators of competitions and should be fair and unbiased, but they have made an unexplainable judgement in front of the public. I want to ask you, years later, when you think back on this final, will you feel ashamed? I want to ask these judges, does Chen Yibing have another 4 years? When you see my team members injury-filled legs, do you feel the sin in your soul?
If you feel undisturbed, then I can only say you are no different from a robber.
I can only say, this gold medal was not won honorably for Brazil.
I can only say, August 6th, 2012, is a dark night in the history of gymnastics.
When I saw Chen Yibings score was only 15.8, I felt a bad premonition because this score is far lower than what he should get from this movement. Next up, everyones scores were pushed down, only leaving the opportunity for the Brazilian contestant to overcome. It seemed as if as long as the Brazilian competitor did not fall, the gold was his. I did not expect this. Its robbing Chen Yibings gold!
How good or how bad, even if one is not a gymnast, even if one is just a fan, one can tell. Chen Yibings movement has no flaws. Even small movements were few. His performance was better than his 2008 Olympics performance. The Brazilian competitor used movements with few variance. The step taken at the landing was especially an obvious flaw. But, the judges fixed his flaws behind the scenes. When a competition comes to this, be it the coaches or athletes, there is no say for them. The judges say everything, and our athletes move from being the lead to supporting characters.
History cannot be changed, and the loss must remain in the heart. What I can be happy about is that Chen Yibing, both in and out of stadium, showed the heart and spirit of a Chinese gymnast. I want to say today that he is absolutely competent as the team leader of the Chinese mens gymnastics team. To me, for a long time in the future, when it comes to rings in international competitions, all gymnasts might have two images in their heads. One is the flawless Chen Yibing, and the other is that of the Brazilian competitor today.
Finally, I want to say one thing. The London Olympics is held in a civilized country. When arguments and disagreements come about, in all competitions, all competitors, coaches and judges should have a standard of judgement. When competitors make mistakes, they are penalized, and competition results are often changed. Now, when gymnastics has such unfair scoring, the IOC, FIG , and associated organizations, should they also do an investigation on the judges and their results.
Huangs not the only one surprised. The Italian coach at the competition, Maurizio Allievi, also agreed. I dont think he (Nabarrete) did quite good on the rings. He not only made a step forward in his dismount, but some flaws can be found on his skills in supporting his body, said Allievi. He cant match with Chen and Morandi (bronze medalist) at all. Chen is better than Morandi in his routine execution.
Finishing 7th in the same competition, Bulgarias six time Olympian Iordan Iovtchev said Personally, I think Chen performed the best, but Im not the judge.
Multiple Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics Li Xiaopeng, who was commentator on CCTV, was unable to comprehend the scoring after comparison reruns of the two performances, and Olympic gold medalist Liu Xuan was equally outraged on weibo.
Execution scores cannot be disputed, so they couldnt appeal the scores, but Im glad he did not just silently accept the score but stood for his team member. Silence is acceptance, and this is unacceptable.
8 Responses to Chen Yibing coach protests to judges: Do you feel the sin in your soul?
Chris says:
August 6, 2012 at 8:29 pm
I agree with everything he said. What a travesty!!
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Celia says:
August 6, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Chen is the best. No doubt, He is the real winner!
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Just Person says:
August 6, 2012 at 8:47 pm
Everyone who saw the performance would agree. Chen Yibing was robbed, and only someone who didnt see both performances would dispute that fact. I have never been so upset with the Olympics judges in my life. After seeing the results of the rings finals, I could not even enjoy watching other Olympic events. If there is any justice in the world, there must be some way to give Chen Yibing back his rightful gold. I really hope there is something, someone high up, who will admit that this wrong took place. Im from the US, but I dont see how anyone from anywhere could have watched Zanetti win and not feel sick. Its horrible, and wrong, and the Olympics should be better than that.
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Kristen says:
August 6, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Yibing should have won. He was clearly better. Makes me want to possibly mention political agendas perhaps ? I just cant understand .. It was so obvious. At the very root- Step on landing. No step on landing.
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Jerry says:
August 6, 2012 at 10:05 pm
Horrible judging. Yibing should have won gold. This is robbery!
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Kellan says:
August 6, 2012 at 10:11 pm
I think it has to do with Grandi and the FIG constantly trying to appeal to smaller gymnastic nations. All of his rule changes (age rule, reduced team sizes, 2 per country in AA) all benefit smaller nations, which gains him votes and favor from smaller nations (which have as much power each as a power nation). Because Rio is going to host the Olympics next, Grandi wanted to give a small nation a boost. He constantly talks about how smaller nations should have an opportunity, well now it has happened.
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M shelly says:
August 6, 2012 at 10:21 pm
Everybody around me was shocked.
Chen Wibing was perfection, flawless, golden.
That he did not get a gold makes a mockery of the Olympic ideals
Even the American TV commentators were shocked
Seems to me they were looking for any excuse to prevent the Chinese from getting
the gold.
I am not Chinese but I think that the world should be grateful for some of the amazing
performances put on by the Chinese athletes.
Without the participation of the Chinese the Olympics would be very diminished indeed.
My vote goes to Cnen Wibing
That committee should be fired
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Ken says:
August 6, 2012 at 11:31 pm
Chen is the champ. Olympics a disgrace this year. So obvious that Chen Won. What a fraud and that is when London Olympics this year with ally the errors will go down as one of the worst.
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