Int'l Federation Says Found No Bias in Judging of Tokyo Olympic Rhythmic Gymnastics
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) announced on Thursday that an investigation by a technical committee found no evidence of bias in how the Tokyo Olympic rhythmic gymnastics competition was judged.
The Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee, headed by Russia’s Natalia Kuzmina, reviewed all evaluation components in every phase of the competition to conclude that "no bias or irregularities were identified in the judging panels," a FIG statement read.
"The Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee, therefore, confirms that the rankings and results of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games competitions in Rhythmic Gymnastics for both Individuals and Groups are fair and impartial," it said.
The FIG said it was appalled to learn that several panel judges had received hateful messages since the Olympics and called all attempts to "destabilize" judges utterly unacceptable.
The Russian Olympic Committee criticized rhythmic gymnastics judges after they passed over three-time world champion Dina Averina to award gold to Israeli athlete Linoy Ashram, despite her dropping her ribbon, while Averina finished her routine without any mistakes. In the difficulty level, Ashram presented exercises that were 1.3 points more difficult in total than those performed by Averina.
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