Judging change puts perfection out of reach
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-16 10:23

INSTANT REPLAY

Kim, who has been involved in the development of the new Code of Points (CoP), shrugged off the suggestion.

"I think we will slow down development of new skills, extra difficulties etcetera," she said.

"Gymnasts will become more careful as the deductions will be much more strict. If they are smart, they will learn that they would be better off to perform a more normal skill but to do it perfectly."

Although athletes will have to wait a few more months before they can test the new CoP, judges will be able to use instant replay technology for the first time in Melbourne, where competition starts on Tuesday.

"This will make our life much easier and this is a great innovation," said Kim.

"When you see it (a performance) in slow motion for a second time, you can see more mistakes (but) the thing I'm afraid of is people can sometimes overuse it and I don't want that to happen.

"I will instruct my judges that they should not use instant replay unless there is an inquiry."

Not everyone is hailing the changes.

"I don't understand what they are trying to do with the new code," Olympic all-round champion Carly Patterson of the U.S. told Reuters.

"If you go back and do an instant replay in slomo, there's always going to be something extra that you can take off.

"It's less complicated the way it is right now but I guess they have to change things. All this stuff is confusing me."