The referees are key figures guaranteeing the fairness of the competitions, but the frequent unfair judgments made by them have brought a "dark shadow" to this London Olympics.
Many hot comments have surfaced after so many misjudgments at the Olympics. Many media are also analyzing the root causes behind them.
Hong Kong-based newspaper Ta Kung Pao published an article, saying that "the inherent prejudice is the major reason for the misjudgments." The article believes that the cycling and fencing are the events with most misjudgments in the London Olympics. These two events are traditional European events and most referees for the events are Europeans. In the past, European competitors were much more powerful than Asian competitors in this event. But, as the sport develops, Asian fencers by training hard and studying the rules have shortened the gap between them and European fencers, started to win gold and silver medals and shaken Europe's dominance in this event. However, fencing referees still believe that Europeans have the final say in this stage controlled by Europeans.
A report on the Voice of Russia said that as the Olympics is going on, in some events that completely depend on referees' subjective judgments, such as the rhythmic gymnastics and water ballet, the competitors' fates have completely fallen into hands of the referees. They hope these referees do not hold prejudices on competitors from some countries and perform their duties as referees fairly. The report said that some referees give high scores to some competitors not because of their skills or speeds but because of the countries they belong and a series of misjudgments has made the London Olympics quite dark.
An article on the Munhwa II-bo of South Korea criticized the misjudgments' impacts on careers of competitors. The article said that the London Olympics is swinging due to misjudgments; although some people say misjudgments are an inevitable part of the sport, the severe misjudgments of the London Olympics have gone beyond the limit; these confusing misjudgments have totally ruined four-year hard efforts made by some competitors and it is just unfair.
