Winter Olympics 2018: Split second decision ended David Morris’ medal hopes

Split second decision in favour of Chinese skiier Jiu Zongyang ended David Morris’ medal aspirations despite his better landing.

David Morris competes during the men's aerials final. Picture: AFP.

Four judges in the Olympic aerials competition believed the Chinese silver medallist Jiu Zongyang had control on landing when making contact with the snow in the first round of the Olympic aerial finals — even though video replay showed he was only balanced on one leg before crashing at the bottom of the hill.

That split second decision erring in Jiu’s favour by the majority of judges ultimately ended the PyeongChang medal aspirations of Australia’s Sochi silver medallist David Morris after he had a ”bobble’’ on landing but remained on his feet, unlike Jiu’s inelegant finish.

Morris was sanguine about the scoring of Jiu, even though his coach Jeff Bean had questioned the judges about their shock score.

Said Morris immediately after the competition: “I thought I was in. I saw him crash and saw the score come up and I was surprised about it. My coach went up to the judges and questioned them on it, and they said they gave him four metres of controlled skiing which is what you need on landing, so he bobbled like me but he stood up and they discounted the last part because it was not part of the jump.’’

While there was sharp dialogue about Morris being robbed of the chance to go further in the competition, it appears only one of the judges — a Russian — agreed with Australian opinion.

Queensland Police tweeted: If only we had jurisdiction of PyeongChang 2018 aerials because @aerial skier (David Morris) was just robbed’’.

If only we had jurisdiction over #PyeongChang2018, because @Aerialskier was just robbed.

— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) February 18, 2018

In an analysis of the judging scores, The Australian can reveal that Morris would have had to have been given a more generous landing result by the Chinese judge, and then Jiu penalised by all the judges for his ultimate crash, for the Melburnian to have progressed through to the next round of the finals.

Jiu benefited from having a more difficult jump that was scored more generously for the height he went and the form he showed in executing the trick.

Judges are given parameters within which they award landing points and the highest and lowest scores are discounted.

David Morris competes in the men’s aerial finals. Picture: Getty Images.

Scores between 1.6 and 2.0 are given when there is ”No body contact but hand or hands dragging with hard compression, heavy imbalance’’.

Scores between 2.0 and 2.5 are awarded when there is ”No touch of hand(s) but some imbalance on landing or ski away; hard compression with no touch.’’

In the first round finals judging the Chinese judge gave Jiu 2.5 for landing, while the Swiss judge awarded him 2.4, the Canadian and Japanese both gave 2.2 and the Russian deemed it in the lower category with a 2.0.

Both the Chinese and Japanese judges awarded 2.2 for Morris’ landing with Russia and Switzerland giving him 2.3 and the Canadian a 2.5.

But the FIS judging handbook says: ‘’Landing will stopped being judged when the athlete shows control and at least 4 meters after making contact with the snow. If the athlete does not show control within 4 meters of contact with the snow, then landing will be judged until the athlete shows control or reaches finish area.’’

The big question is did Jiu show control at any point even though his left leg was all over the place before catching an edge and tumbling over?

The judges book states: ‘’The evaluation of a landing starts immediately when the competitor touches the snow and continues until the competitor has exhibited sufficient skiing control.’’

Morris said he knew he was in a tricky position when he was only awarded 111.95 despite a strong jump.

He said: “It was an okay score, 111 is not huge, and I thought it would be borderline (to progress to the next final). I had my hopes up, if someone else wants to drag a hand that would be fine. but no, it didn’t go my way.’’

He said he finished tenth and was in one piece with both knees intact.

”It’s a judged sport, sometimes it sucks, sometimes its in our favour, we don’t complain when its in our favour and if we really have issue with it we should take up another sport that is timed.’’

He was empathetic with the judges who have to make decisions in real time, compared to critics who can slow motion replay the action repeatedly.

”I am fine with that, it is what it is,’’ he said.