The Olympic Games in London will be remembered not only for the scale and intensity of the competition, but also for the more than controversial judging decisions. One of them turned out to be directly related to the Russian gymnast Maria Paseka.
At the competition of gymnasts in the vault, American McKayla Maroni was considered the favorite, while our hopes were associated with the debutant, 17-year-old Maria Paseka, who had already won a silver medal in the team championship. Gymnasts from Canada and the Dominican Republic made gross mistakes when landing (the Canadian was also seriously injured).
Maria Paseka performed the first jump very well, while in the second jump the landing was indistinct, the gymnast stepped in for the “exit”. American Maroni, who jumped after, brilliantly performed the first attempt, and fell in the second jump upon landing. This is considered a gross error and will result in a significant reduction in the score. Nevertheless, the given score allowed the American woman to bypass the Apiary on the sum of two jumps.
This caused a violent reaction from viewers and sports commentators. The panel of judges, explaining the reasons for their decision, referred to the fact that Maroni, they say, first landed clearly on both legs, and only then, having lost her balance, sat down. But such an explanation is, to put it mildly, doubtful. Indeed, for her second jump, Maroni received 8, 200 points, while a gymnast from the Dominican Republic, who performed a much more difficult jump and also fell after landing, was awarded an assessment of only 7, 566 points. Give any plausible explanation for
on this occasion the judges either could not or did not want to. Thus, Maroni bypassed our Maria Paseka by 0, 108 points.
Romanian gymnast Sandra Izbasha, who performed last, clearly performed both jumps and received quite high marks. This allowed her to win the gold medal. Silver went to American Maroni, bronze to Maria Paseka. And if the victory of the Romanian gymnast looks quite deserved and fair, then the distribution of the second and third places will excite sports fans for a long time, causing very violent emotions.
The Russian gymnast, evaluating her own performance, complained about the lack of experience. “I got nervous for the first time at the Olympics,” Maria Paseka admitted frankly.
