Su Yiming defends judging after winning big air bronze, Eileen Gu admits to feeling pressure
Netizens lash out at Japanese judge after the snowboarder finishes behind two competitors from Japan at Milano Cortina Winter Olympics
In the early hours of Sunday, China’s snowboarder Su Yiming won bronze in the men’s big air, securing the country’s first medal at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
Even though Su won bronze, some Chinese netizens raised concerns about the scores awarded by the Japanese judge – one of six from different countries scoring the contest.
On Su’s first jump, he scored 88.75, with the Japanese judge giving the lowest mark of 87, which was not added to the tally. On his second jump, he was awarded 73.75, with the Japanese judge giving him the lowest valid score. And on his third run, he scored 80.25.
“I think Su had the best style in the air, clearly better than the two Japanese athletes,” one sports blogger wrote on Weibo. “Of course, Su made a mistake, but I don’t think the score should have been that low.”
Su, however, was not bitter about the result.
“I think today’s judging was completely fair. I did not perform at my best,” Su said. “In training, I have landed more difficult tricks, but today I wasn’t able to show those.”