Friday, August 03, 2012

First Jordyn gets robbed, now Aly Raisman does, too

Aly Raisman handled her composure last night with class.  She did so again this morning during The Today Show on NBC.

From the USA Gymnastics:
Aly Raisman of Needham, Mass./Brestyan's American Gymnastics, finished in a tie for third with Mustafina with a 59.566, but due to the tie-breaking procedures, finished fourth in the all-around. With the tied score, FIG rules dictate that each competitor's three highest scores count, with Mustafina edging the 2012 U.S. balance beam and floor exercise champion.

"I'm really happy for Gabby," said Raisman. "She's been working really hard so I'm really excited for her, but it's definitely really frustrating because we (Mustafina) tied for third place. I was so close. But being fourth in the world is definitely something to be proud of."
No matter what the FIG rules dictate, Aly Raisman is a Bronze Medalist in our hearts.

This is the same FIG that had changed the rules after the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney so that only 2 gymnasts from the same country were allowed to compete instead of 3 gymnasts.  Had this still been the case, Jordyn Wieber would have qualified for yesterday's all-around.

Between the 2008 games in Beijing and the 2012 games in London, the FIG amended the rules so that instead of 6 gymnasts, only 5 would represent their country.

I imagine that the FIG once more will amend their rules to take out the tie-breaker.  These tie-breakers only hurt the people that work the hardest to get to this point in their life.  If they finished tied for third place, why rob one of them of a medal?

It makes no sense to me to deny Aly Raisman of a medal because of a stupid tiebreaking rule.  She deserves the Bronze Medal, even if it's only in our hearts.

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