Qualification Scandal: Jordyn Wieber and the Two Per-Country Rule

For any gymnastics fans living under a rock for the last 24 hours, the biggest American drama at Qualifications was that Jordyn Wieber, current World Champion, did not advance to the all around finals. In gymnastics, there is a rule that only the top two athletes per country can advance to any given final. Even though Jordyn finished only 4th in the world, she finished slightly behind teammates Aly Raisman and Gabby Doulgas, thus failing to advance to the all around finals.

Jordyn was clearly devastated at this outcome. When Aly's score was released, Jordyn burst into tears, but respectfully tried to remain as calm as possible. The whole scene was heartbreaking. Jordyn had good performances on vault and bars, but received scores that were much lower than usual on beam and floor. On beam, Jordyn received only a 14.833. This was mainly because the judges did not give her the full difficulty of her routine, likely taking away the connections around her standing back tuck with a full twist. Although these connections are never the smoothest or the quickest, they are usually given credit even when they are much slower than they were in that performance. On floor, Jordyn received only a 14.7. I think that this was much too low a score for her. She had a tiny step out of bounds-only a tenth. She didn't mess up anything else, though--Jordyn gave a great performance. I'm pretty sure, though not positive, that the judges also took away some start value on this performance.

Needless to say, the backlash has been huge. Many people all over the world have criticized the two per-country rule and acknowledged that Jordyn is a fantastic gymnast who deserves to compete in the all around final.

But people are also wondering what would have happened if Aly had been the one to narrowly miss out on the all around final. Would there even have been a reaction?  I'm the first to admit that, as much as I LOVE Aly, I wouldn't be having this reaction if she missed out because of the two per country rule. I was fully aware of the rule and wasn't expecting her to qualify. And although it would have been upsetting, I wouldn't have felt the same way I do now.

A lot of people are saying that this isn't fair because we're only reacting for Jordyn, either because we like her or because we were just expecting her to win. They argue that if it were someone else who failed to qualify, we wouldn't care nearly as much, even though it would an almost identical situation. Although I agree that she was a huge favorite for many people, I'm not complaining about the two per-country rule just because she's one of my favorites. She is the WORLD CHAMPION. She's not some up and coming new senior who was expected to win, she's not the Olympic Trials winner, she's the current World Champion. As much as I recognize that this fuss wouldn't be made over Aly's third place finish, I don't think that it should be. This is a proven champion, one that finished fourth in the world on one particular day. I don't think this fuss is all about Jordyn being our favorite, it's about her being a champion. And Jordyn is a champion who deserves every bit of the fuss.


Photo Credit-ABC News and Boston Herald