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Uchimura admits guilt over silver confusion
Source: AFP |
August 1, 2012, Wednesday
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KOHEI Uchimura expressed a measure of sympathy for Great Britain and Ukraine after a judging inquiry into his pommel horse routine gave Japan the silver medal in the men's gymnastics team final.
The Japanese superstar badly miscued his dismount from the pommel in the final rotation and was awarded a score of 13.466 points that left Japan in fourth place. As Britain celebrated a shock silver medal and Ukraine toasted an apparent third-place finish, Japan appealed to the judges that brought proceedings to a confused and confusing standstill.
The judges ultimately decided that Uchimura had not been given sufficient credit for his dismount and amended his score to 14.166, taking Japan up to second, dropping Britain to third, and leaving Ukraine empty-handed.
Loath to celebrate after finishing behind China in the team competition for the second Olympics in succession, Uchimura conceded he felt for the British and Ukrainian gymnasts.
"For the British people, it's not just them. It's about Ukraine too, who thought they had a bronze. I feel sorry," he said, before back-tracking. "It's strange to say that, though. This is just the way the scoring system works, so I shouldn't feel sorry for them."
"The Chinese team made no mistakes at all," said the three-time individual world champion. We made some mistakes, so of course we have to practise to iron out those mistakes. And we knew that. We practised. At least, that's what we thought.
"But this is the Olympics. It's a special environment, and we couldn't do as we planned. It was really difficult."
The Japanese superstar badly miscued his dismount from the pommel in the final rotation and was awarded a score of 13.466 points that left Japan in fourth place. As Britain celebrated a shock silver medal and Ukraine toasted an apparent third-place finish, Japan appealed to the judges that brought proceedings to a confused and confusing standstill.
The judges ultimately decided that Uchimura had not been given sufficient credit for his dismount and amended his score to 14.166, taking Japan up to second, dropping Britain to third, and leaving Ukraine empty-handed.
Loath to celebrate after finishing behind China in the team competition for the second Olympics in succession, Uchimura conceded he felt for the British and Ukrainian gymnasts.
"For the British people, it's not just them. It's about Ukraine too, who thought they had a bronze. I feel sorry," he said, before back-tracking. "It's strange to say that, though. This is just the way the scoring system works, so I shouldn't feel sorry for them."
"The Chinese team made no mistakes at all," said the three-time individual world champion. We made some mistakes, so of course we have to practise to iron out those mistakes. And we knew that. We practised. At least, that's what we thought.
"But this is the Olympics. It's a special environment, and we couldn't do as we planned. It was really difficult."
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