Japanese artistic swimmers perform their technical team exercise on Monday during the Olympic Games in Paris.
18:23 JST, August 6, 2024
PARIS — Social media was abuzz with protest costs in artistic swimming as Japan rose from sixth to third after challenging the judges’ initial decision.
A fee of 500 Swiss francs (about ¥85,000), officially called a “deposit,” must be paid to protest a decision by the judges in artistic swimming. Many have been surprised by this rule, posting comments such as “They shouldn’t charge fees” and “That’s expensive.”
The event in question was the technical team routine on Monday, the first element of the artistic swimming competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics. According to the Japanese Swimming Federation, Japan’s theme for the routine was “Thunder.”
Speed and synchronization are key to a high score. However, a series of leg movements performed near the end of the Japanese team’s performance received the lowest rating. The angles of the athletes’ legs were deemed not to be accurately aligned, resulting in a significant deduction.
Japan coach Takako Nakajima immediately paid the fee to file a protest. Judges confirmed on video that there was no problem with the leg angles and overturned the initial assessment that had scored Japan more than 20 points below the third-place team.
If a protest is accepted, the compensation is refunded. So Japan got all of its 500 Swiss francs back.
Comments online included: “I thought artistic swimmers naturally have the right to challenge the judging” and “I knew video referees were used in other sporting events, but I didn’t know they had to pay a fee in artistic swimming.”
One social media user criticized the system, saying it was unfair to charge a fee, while another claimed that “¥80,000 is cheap considering they went from sixth to third place.”
The free routine event takes place on Tuesday, and the acrobatic routine event makes its Olympic debut on Wednesday. The results will be determined by the total scores of the three routines.
