Aussie official accuses judges of inflating Canada's score in men's moguls - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Jesse834 · 02-15-2010, 01:54 AM

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/20...224/story.html

Quote:

METRO VANCOUVER - An Australian sport official accused judges of awarding inflated scores to Canadian Alex Bilodeau Sunday, allowing him to edge out Dale Begg-Smith for gold in men's moguls.
“My own opinion is that probably Alex is not capable of a 4.8 or a 4.9 [on his turns], because five is a perfect score," Geoff Lipshut, the team's high-performance director, told Queensland's Courier-Mail.
“Dale had the highest turn points and the highest air points," he told the newspaper. “Dale skied unbelievable and I don't think you can fault anything he did. I thought Dale won, but that's just a gut feel."

Quote:

“I ski the way I want to ski,” Begg-Smith said when asked whether it felt like he won silver or lost gold. “That’s all I can control. I had a lot of good runs today. I skied as well as I could.”

LockedOut · 02-15-2010, 02:10 AM

Here's a link to the results for comparison's sake and how they were judged. Sounds like sour grapes to me. Try going faster next time buddy. Bilodeau had one judge give him a 4.9 but that's dropped anyways since it was the highest score. Drop the 4.8 to a 4.7 and Bilodeau still wins anyways.

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/freestyle-...xpresults.html

shermanator · 02-15-2010, 02:10 AM

Allow me to break out my tiny violin....

Hemi-Cuda · 02-15-2010, 02:10 AM

what a little bitch. Bilodeau was faster and his jumps much more difficult and perfectly executed, there's no disputing that he deserves the gold

Dwight_K_Schrute · 02-15-2010, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

what a little bitch. Bilodeau was faster and his jumps much more difficult and perfectly executed, there's no disputing that he deserves the gold

That's exactly how I feel.

This guy is a total joke.

Kerplunk · 02-15-2010, 02:24 AM

So his argument hinges on the statement that, since 5 is a perfect score, Bilodeau can't get a 4.9? Looks to me that Dale should have either been faster or made a slightly harder jump. Really the difference in points is half of a second down the hill.

stignasty · 02-15-2010, 02:31 AM

Dale Begg-Smith's little tantrum on the hill as Bilodeau celebrated was really quite enough. To have the officials continue it is really unnecessary. Maybe Smith can go home to Australia and write some mal-ware to infect the judge's computer with. Nevermind, he probably already did that.

valo403 · 02-15-2010, 02:35 AM

Having lived in Australia this doesn't surprise me whatsoever. I was surprised by the mass amount of attitude they have when it comes to sports, there's a general douchbagness around Australian international sports. It doesn't fit with the typical attitude in the country, but it comes up routinely.

Begg-Smith should have had at least a point taken off for being a developer of spam software.

henriksedin33 · 02-15-2010, 02:43 AM

poor loser

TopChed · 02-15-2010, 02:56 AM

I am so glad this ended the way it did. I don't think I could have handled seeing Bilodeau ski that well and come in second to some guy who would shrug and yawn simultaneously as he received a gold medal.

twotoner · 02-15-2010, 03:45 AM

Dale did have the best turns. The judges did say that and scored it that way. Dale's turns were technically better but he lacked the intensity and agressiveness that Bilodeau's skiing had. Agressiveness and intensity are a component for judges to consider for turn scores. This is what brought Bilodeau's overall turn score close to Dale's. And as mentioned, Bilodeau had a higher degree of difficulty on his jumps that slightly edged out Dale's air score. He smoked Smith on speed which really mutes the whole debate.

A lot of this contest was won in the semi final. Bilodeau's semi final run earned him a clear advantage to go after Smith in the final. He knew exactly what he had to do to best Smith whereas Smith had to guess what it would take and how much too risk.

If it were a steeper slope and more challenging course, I think Dale would have won (witness what he did a month ago here in Calgary). But it wasn't and Dale will probably be the first to publicly tell this guy to shut the hell up.

twotoner · 02-15-2010, 04:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stignasty

Dale Begg-Smith's little tantrum on the hill as Bilodeau celebrated was really quite enough.

I never saw this tantrum? Got a link? I watched the whole thing again and all I saw was this:
- Bilodeau's score announced, they shake hands and Dale offers the number one seat to him
- On the podium, Dale looks to Bilodeau and congratulates him
- Dale accepts his flowers, says thankyou and shakes Chris Robinson's hand
- Dale claps when Bilodeau's 1st place is announced
- He accepts Bilodeau's implicit offer to share the number one step with Wilson and they all get the group shot at the end of the presentation

Sure he's totally stone faced the whole time, shows barely a lick of emotion and seems detached and alone with his own thoughts, I'll be the first to admit he's not a normal dude, but I didn't see any tantrum...

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/freestyle-...01/replay.html

Hemi-Cuda · 02-15-2010, 05:07 AM

http://tv.gawker.com/5471673/o-canad...pics-win-video

even the American announcers say "this should be the first place run" when Bilodeau finished, unless somehow they're biased towards Canada too. the Australians are grasping at straws and it really makes them look petty

3 Justin 3 · 02-15-2010, 05:39 AM

Mad Mel · 02-15-2010, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

even the American announcers say "this should be the first place run" when Bilodeau finished, unless somehow they're biased towards Canada too. the Australians are grasping at straws and it really makes them look petty

Uh... the Australian announcers figured that it was probably a gold medal run too, and never questioned the result.

I love it when people take what one person says and apply it to an entire nation. Now that really looks petty.

SeoulFire · 02-15-2010, 08:36 AM

Hence the crappiness of any judged sport.

Svartsengi · 02-15-2010, 09:48 AM

Complaining about scores awarded by judges happens every olympics. Canada has done its share in past winter and summer games. Some of it justified like with the pairs figure skating in 2002 and plenty of it the usual background noise that comes with any judged event. I am happy for Bilodeau and his family. Nice story about his older brother too.

transplant99 · 02-15-2010, 10:03 AM

Speaking of judging events...last nights "judging" in the pairs event was atrocious.

Its pretty clear that "sport" is beyond corrupt and it is so ingrained into the culture that they will never ever be able to get it straight unless the entire thing is dropped from Olympic competition and blown up, then started all over again.

Teams from both Canada and Russia couples had far inferior programs to other pairs they finished ahead of.

I really thought that sport would get it's crap together after the debacle of Salt lake city, but it just looks like the same old nonsense.

3 Justin 3 · 02-15-2010, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transplant99

Speaking of judging events...last nights "judging" in the pairs event was atrocious.

Its pretty clear that "sport" is beyond corrupt and it is so ingrained into the culture that they will never ever be able to get it straight unless the entire thing is dropped from Olympic competition and blown up, then started all over again.

Teams from both Canada and Russia couples had far inferior programs to other pairs they finished ahead of.

I really thought that sport would get it's crap together after the debacle of Salt lake city, but it just looks like the same old nonsense.

Judging events are always bogus and up for debate. Unfortunately it is the only way to score some of these sports. I didn't watch all of the pairs, but I don't doubt your wrong. There are always bad apple judges.

GirlySports · 02-15-2010, 10:23 AM

It's common knowledge that any Australian athlete or team that is any good quickly becomes the hated individual/team in that sport.

----

The thing about judged sports is that where you're positioned makes a big difference.
For example in the moguls yesterday, if Begg-Smith had had a better qualifying run and went after Bilodeau in the finals, he might have won. The french guy had a huge advantage going last, he just choked making a major mistake on the last jump.

In figure skating, you'll always be around your ranking. Even if you fall flat on your ass.
How can Dube finish ahead of Langois when Dube fell? It's pre-rankings.