Eliminate Judged Olympic Events?
In this article, Josh Elliott tries to make a case for the elimination of any subjective event: gymnastics, diving, figure skating, boxing, etc. To quote Elliott: "If it can’t be won on the track, in the lane lines or with one more goal than the other folks, it has no place in the world’s premier festival of sport, one that purports to give us the world’s greatest champions. For if a win can’t be unquestionably achieved, what’s it worth, really?"
His angst is understandable. Certainly, I have the same frustrations watching a lot of these sports. The reason he is wrong, however, is that all sports are subjective at some level, regardless of how the outcome is ultimately determined.
Swimming is a perfect example. Sure, the winner is determined quantitatively by who has the best score, but there are a dozen ways to be disqualified, and all of those judgements are made subjectively. In this Olympics, we’ve even already seen swimming disqualification controversy with Kitajima in the 100m breaststroke and Piersol in the 200m backstroke. In both cases, the controversy determined who would win gold? Can either medalist say they won "unquestionably"?
In scored sports, we have the same problem, of course, with questionable calls by the referrees. In the women’s water polo semifinals, the US lost to Italy at the last minute due to a controversial call. Obviously this happens all the time in scored sports, that is why the NFL has instant replay. How is a judged sport different from an umpire determining a strike zone?
The point is, I agree with Elliott’s frustrations, but there is absolutely nothing that can be done to remove the impact of subjective judgement on any sport.