Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman disappointingly took fourth place in the women’s gymnastics individual all-around competition at the London Olympics this week. It was a disappointment to the 18-year-old athlete because she actually tied for third place, but was dropped to fourth place due to a quizzical and controversial tie-breaking rule.
Since Raisman tied with Russian gymnast Aliya Mustafina in the competition, the two were then subject to a rule that calls for dropping the lowest apparatus score of each tied all-around competitor, and re-tallying their remaining three scores. Unfortunately for Raisman, her lowest score was higher than Mustafina’s lowest, so once it was dropped from her total score, it meant Mustafina would take third place.
Raisman says she is more sad than angry about the ruling, but she is still looking forward to competing on the balance beam and floor individual finals on Tuesday.