How did one of the top U.S. judges perceive her profession in 1972?
Before the Munich Olympics, several newspapers printed profiles of Jackie Fie, who would later go on to become the president of the Women’s Technical Committee. Fie didn’t hold back in her statements. She confessed that judges had to show some favoritism towards their gymnasts “on the battlefield.”
“If you’re not going to go in there and fight for your kids, there’s something wrong with you,” she says. “I don’t think anyone is going to outright cheat, but you have to be lenient in judging your own team.
“If there’s a question in your mind whether one of your girls is worth 9.2 or 9.3, you’re going to give the 9.3—because you know that every other country is going to do the same for its girls.”
That’s just a little teaser of what you can find below…
“Gymnastic Judges Objective… to [a] Point”
Girl watching will be better than ever in Long Beach over the next four days and nights, and four women will be watching closer than anybody.
They are the judges — two American and two Canadian — who will decide which six of the 30 girls in the U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics trials will win a trip to Munich.
“Our system is supposedly objective,” says Mrs. Jackie Fie of Iowa, one of the judges and the U.S. Gymnastics Federation’s technical director for women.
“There are some 120 pages of notes that you memorize to become a judge, along with taking rigorous examinations and international courses, but it is still quite difficult not to let your subjective enter it.”
What Mrs. Fie is saying is that the judges aren’t as cold and computerized as they might appear.
“Judges can be predisposed by a name,” she says. “It’s a little more difficult for the unknown to get a high score.”
This is one drawback to the International Gymnastic Federation’s new rule requiring all nations to have two or three judges from neutral countries working their Olympic trials. Last weekend Mrs. Fie was chief judge for Canada’s trials at Calgary.
The rule, she says, is “to insure [sic] that each country would honestly evaluate its competitors. I think that we are a little subjectively influenced, because we work with the kids day in and day out.”
Mrs. Fie was a member of the Olympic team in 1956 and competed on two U.S. national teams. She also judged at last year’s world meet in Yugoslavia, where Cathy Rigby won America’s first international medal ever, a silver for second place.
“We’ve been fortunate to have many international meets in the last two years,” she says. “It’s worked to the improvement of our gymnasts. It’s pushed them to be better and given them exposure to the European styles, which are ‘in.’
“They know now that the U.S. has some good gymnasts. We’ve made a reputation.”
The importance of an international reputation in gymnastics can’t be minimized.
“Another country — say, Australia — may have a topnotch gymnast,” Mrs. Fie says, “but it’s going to be quite difficult for that girl to get a high score. We’ve never heard of her. She’s not going to be cheated in any way, but familiarity plays a role.”
Each girl starts an exercise with 10 points, which are then deducted on clearly defined areas, some of which will work against the Americans at Munich.
“There’s a point-and-a-half based on originality and style,” Mrs. Fie says. “They may deduct on the Americans in this area, saying that we are not as original, because they think the Russian or East German style is better. They’re judging us by European standards.”
“Composition” is worth five-tenths of a point, and a whopping four points goes for “difficulty.”
“The difficulty we’re great in,” says Mrs. Fie. “Nobody can touch us.”
Then there are 1.5 points for “technical execution — form breaks, f[al]tering, loss of balance, heavy landings.”
Another 1.5 is given to “amplitude — the fullest extent to which a movement can be performed. If they do a hand stand [sic], is it perfectly stretched? If they kick their leg, is their supporting leg straight and locked, and is the free leg extended upward with control, with the body stretched and the head up?
“The other point is ‘general impression’ — elegance, gracefulness, poise, confidence, rhythm, maturity of movement. It’s rather vague, but it’s the flair, the method of presentation, the way they project to the audience… to the judges.”
[Note: You can read the 1970 Code of Points here.]
Based on such technical points, the scoring system theoretically is not subject to external influences, such as the favorable audience Cathy and the other local girls will enjoy.
“No, not at all,” says Mrs. Fie, “because they don’t know the code of points, and they don’t know what you’re looking for. Never are we influenced by the audience. At least I’m not.”
Some who witnessed the ‘68 Olympics competition in Mexico City might not agree. When Czechoslovakia’s eventual gold medal winner drew a low score, the crowd protested and the meet referee overruled all of the judges except Mrs. Fie, who had awarded the highest score.
“I felt that she deserved it. The chief of the competition has the right to do that, but it’s very rarely done.”
Unlike diving and figure skating, in gymnastics, the individual judges’ scores are not presented. Instead, the high and low are thrown out and the average of the remainder is posted.
Only women judge women’s gymnastics, and men’s gymnastics is based on a different scoring system.
“Men don’t have a general impression factor, Mrs. Fie says, “the gracefulness and all that… the esthetic part of it. Yet they do have something we don’t have. Their highest score is 9.4, but they have six more tenths that can be given for risk, originality, and virtuosity. They call it ‘SPIRITUAL EXPRESSION.’”
[Note: You can read the 1971 supplement to the men’s Code of Points.]
Mrs. Fie also will judge at Munich, and she freely admits that she’ll be rooting for our side.
“If you’re not going to go in there and fight for your kids, there’s something wrong with you,” she says. “I don’t think anyone is going to outright cheat, but you have to be lenient in judging your own team.
“If there’s a question in your mind whether one of your girls is worth 9.2 or 9.3, you’re going to give the 9.3—because you know that every other country is going to do the same for its girls.”
Rich Roberts
Independent, Long Beach, CA, May 24, 1972
“Iowan to Judge Olympics”
An attractive Jefferson housewife who is one of the nation’s top authorities on women’s gymnastics will be a judge in the Olympic Games in Germany later this month.
She is Mrs. Larry (Jackie) Fie. She performed in the Olympics in 1956. She has been technical chairman of the United States Gymnastics Federation since 1964, is the author of a new book, “Judging and Coaching Women’s Gymnastics” (National Press, $8.95), and, at the moment, the only internationally licensed women’s gymnastics judge.
Mrs. Fie — her husband is vice-president of the American Athletic Equipment Co. and they moved to Jefferson from Evanston, Ill., last December — will be one of two Jefferson women participating in the Olympics.
The other is Doreen Wilbur, one of the world’s most expert archers, whose feats have been widely publicized.
Judging at the Olympics at least in gymnastics — is an extremely difficult assignment, says Jackie Fie. She will be the only judge from the United States. The leaders in the sport — Russia, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Japan — will have two judges each, and West Germany will have two because it is the host country.
The procedures are designed to prevent judges from giving unfair advantage to performers from their own countries. In the first place, most of the judging is based on well established rules, and judges who don’t follow the rules simply aren’t invited back.
Judges do have discretion in such areas as originality and variety but, again, their ratings must be reasonable to count. There are four judges and a head judge for each gymnastic event, Mrs. Fie explains, and only the average scores are counted.
“If, on the basis of 10 points, two judges core 9.4; one scores 9.3 and another 9.5, the 9.3 and the 9.5 are thrown out,” she says. “Obviously, it is important to arrive at a score that will count.”
Mrs. Fie thinks that while most judges try very hard to be fair, there is a natural tendency to favor their fellow countrymen.
“If a judge doesn’t give her own team every possible advantage, she is putting that team at a double disadvantage because she knows that the other judges will be favoring their teams,” says Mrs. Fie.
“But over-all, I think the scoring is pretty fair. It balances out. And almost always the team that wins deserves to win.
Political pressures, especially among the Soviet bloc countries, are involved but Mrs. Fie points out there is fierce rivalry among those nations, that East Germany has an especially fiery determination to win.
“The East Germans have been holding back their top gymnastic performers,” she says. “They didn’t appear at the European championships at Minsk (Russia) last year. So their appearance in the Olympics will be a surprise. The East Germans are really out to beat the Russians.”
[Reminder: Karin Janz didn’t compete at the 1971 European Championships.]
Mrs. Fie says there is a fine spirit among the judges from all parts of the world and, for instance, she considers judges from East Germany and Russia good friends.
“During the preliminaries we’re all very congenial and compatible,” she says. “But once we’re out there judging — on the battlefield, so to speak — it’s all strictly business.”
Gordon Gammack
Des Moines Tribune, August 10, 1972
Reminder: After the 1972 Olympics, Jackie Fie analyzed the scores and had some questions about the judging.
Fast Forward: 1991
The articles printed above make it sound like Jackie Fie was a highly partisan judge. While she did espouse an “everyone is doing nationalistic judging, so I have to do it, too” attitude in 1972, it should be noted that she did try to fight bias and incompetency in judging later in her career. (Separately, she was at the helm during the Sydney vault debacle.) Here are two articles from 1991 that briefly describe JOE, the evaluation system that she spearheaded at the FIG.
Four Countries’ Judges to Be Cited for Bias
Jackie Fie said Sunday heads of four national delegations competing in the World Gymnastics Championships at the Hoosier Dome will receive letters regarding unsatisfactory work done by their judges during the compulsory rounds of [the] women’s team competition completed Sunday.
“The delegation leaders will receive reports about subjective behavior or lesser competence,” said Fie, a member since 1976 of the Women’s Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG). “There is the possibility of one suspension.”
The letters reflect the first impact of JOE: Judges Objectivity Evaluation, a computer program designed to evaluate the competency and fairness of judges. JOE is being used for the first time in the World Championships.
Fie would not reveal names of judges, the countries they represent or the nature of their mistakes or transgressions, but the type of violation in the case of the possible suspension seemed clear.
“Jackie made the comment one particular judge scored her team 10 places higher than they finished,” said Mike Jacki, FIG vice president and executive director of the U.S. Gymnastics Federation.
“Now I don’t care if you’ve never been to a gymnastics meet in your life and you don’t know anything about gymnastics, I could have put you on the floor and you would have done a better job than that. That is absolutely blatant disregard — that is cheating.”
It’s an old story in gymnastics: Tainted competitions, victimized athletes, an undertone of distrust and accusation.
“There’s a history book about gymnastics written in 1896 and in that boo,k it talks about irregularities in the judging, said Jacki.
“We have 10-day meetings of the International Federation and we spend nine days talking about judging.”
JOE is an opportunity to change that. If properly applied, the program can be used to improve, educate, and police judges. It is specifically designed to monitor how a judge performs the task of ranking the overall field of gymnasts, identifying the top 36 and further refining that evaluation to identify the top eight. It also monitors how a judge ranks the teams and whether or not nationalistic bias is in evidence.
Almost as important as JOE’s evaluation is the fact the judges know they are being monitored. Fie said it’s working.
“I have compared the performance of the judges in this competition with the last World Championships (in 1989 in Stuttgart, Germany) and I can honestly say the evaluation is much better,” said Fie.
Jacki stressed that the burden now lies with the national federations. If a judge is found to be incompetent or unfair, that federation must deal appropriately with the person involved.
Jacki left just one job for FIG. Replace Ellen Berger of Germany, the long-time president of the women’s technical committee. The election will be held at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Fie is a candidate. Jacki endorsed her.
“In my opinion, we need a new leader. We need a new way. We need to move to the next step,” said Jacki. “If (Fie) doesn’t win, this sport is in trouble.”
Phil Richards
The Indianapolis Star, Sept. 10, 1991
6 Countries’ Judges Cited for Good Work
JOE has good news, too.
Judges from six countries were recognized for outstanding work in women’s team compulsories Saturday and Sunday by JOE, the Judges Objectivity Evaluation computer being used for the first time at the World Gymnastics Championships to evaluate the work of women’s judges.
JOE identified judges from six countries for meritorious performances: Italy, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Brazil, France, and Argentina. The judges from Italy and Portugal were cited for outstanding work in two categories.
The heads of delegation from four other countries were informed their judges had done work that fell below standards of competency or fairness. The four judges were not necessarily cited for bias as stated by a headline in Tuesday’s Star.
Jackie Fie, a member of the Women’s Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), declined to reveal the nature of the irregularities involving the four judges.
“JOE is a positive program to educate and improve judging,” said Fie. “The judges are accountable to the system, to their own countries, and to themselves that they do the most efficient and fair job possible.
“The first two sessions (of women’s team compulsories) were fine. The judging was good. The last three rounds (Monday), the scores escalated and there were a lot of unfair scores given.”
Fie took issue with a comment made Monday by FIG vice president Mike Jacki regarding her candidacy for presidency of the women’s technical committee. Fie said she has not declared her candidacy and that no such declaration is required until next year.
Yuri Titov, FIG president, said Tuesday the executive committee has warned three men’s judges for scoring irregularities, but he would not reveal their names or countries because they are still judging.
“Until now, we did not find it necessary to remove the judges, but we may do it before the next day,” said Titov, a Soviet.
Titov said the judges in question refused to cooperate with the men’s technical committee so the executive committee stepped in.
Titov confirmed that the women’s technical committee has taken action with several judges but said the situations did not warrant executive committee involvement.
He chuckled when he was told that U.S. women’s coach Bela Karolyi had complained about the judging and criticized Ellen Berger of Germany, chief [judge] of women’s competition and president of the women’s technical committee.
“Open your eyes. The competition here is favoring the Americans,” said Titov. “I could prove some American girls have the wrong points.
“Karolyi is in it for self propaganda. He’s a good coach but he knows how to play (the game).”
Phil Richards
The Indianapolis Star, Sept. 11, 1991
More on 1972