Winter Olympics 2022 - Technical glitch hands Chinese ski jumper 'perfect score' for poor jump in mixed team event

Published 08/02/2022 at 15:49 GMT

For a moment it looked as though Song Qiwu's mediocre ski jump was one of the best of all time as all five judges gave him a perfect score despite barely clearing 70m. But Qiwu's jump was no hidden masterpiece, and in reality the score was revealed to be the result of a technical error. His 60 was revised down to 44 as China failed to qualify for the final round of the mixed team event.

Bizarre moment Chinese ski jumper gets perfect score despite poor jump

Chinese ski jumper Song Qiwu barely cleared 70m in the mixed team event - a full 30 meters shorter than the leading competitors - but was still initially shown a perfect score from the judges.

Qiwu's unremarkable jump, complete with a back wind, underwhelmed the commentators and the crowd and even the athlete himself appeared less than pleased. Yet when his score was initially shown on television screens, it appeared all five judges had given him a perfect score of 20 points. That would have given Qiwu a total of 60 style points - the lowest and highest score from the judges are removed - and temporarily put the Chinese team in first place in the final.

Unfortunately for Qiwu, the score was revealed to be the result of a technical error.

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In reality, Qiwu's jump failed to impress the judges who revised his score down to 44 as China finished last of 10 teams in the first round of the final and failed to qualify for the second round.

Slovenia went on to win gold in an event riddled with controversy as Germany, Japan, Austria and Norway all had jumpers disqualified due to suit violations in the final.

Defending world champions Germany failed even to qualify for the second round of the final after Katharina Althaus was disqualified.

But Agnieszka Baczkowska, the official responsible for the disqualifications, has defended her decision to disqualify the contenders.

"It was my hardest day in 10 years," said Baczkowska. "But I have to make sure that everyone has the same opportunities, because it's about justice."

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