Beijing: The head of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has blamed the IOC (International Olympic Committee) for a ruling that denied two gymnasts gold medals even though they equalled the best score in their events.
Nastia Liukin of the United States and France's Thomas Bouhail both had to settle for silver under a complicated tie-break system never before put into practice at the Olympics.
FIG President Bruno Grandi said he would prefer the highest-scoring gymnasts share gold in the event of a tie-break, as still occurs at FIG's world championships, but the rules imposed by the IOC at the Games prevented it.
"For me, it's not correct," Grandi told reporters Monday night. "When two people arrive at the same level, why not make them both champions?
"I believe it's correct to have two gold medals, but this is my modest opinion. The IOC is different."
The tie-break system, which was introduced after the 1996 Olympics but has never before been needed, caused mass confusion Monday night when a freak coincidence meant it was applied to break the deadlock in two events.
In the women's uneven bars final, Liukin and China's He Kexin both scored 16.725, with identical marks for execution and degree of difficulty.
The same situation occurred in the men's vault final, when Leszek Blanik of Poland and France's Thomas Bouhail both scored 9.5375 out of 10 for execution and 7.0 for difficulty for a total of 16.537.
Instead of sharing gold, officials used complicated countback systems which eventually found a single gold medal winner in each event but which left many scratching their heads.
"I don't know if anybody understands what the hell is going on," Liukin's father and coach Valeri said on Monday night.
For him, it was all the more puzzling as he tied and shared an Olympic gold on the high bar when competing for the Soviet Union in the 1988 Seoul Games.
"I tied in my Olympic Games but I guess they don't want it now," he added.
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