Olympic gymnastics champion Daiki Hashimoto responds to scoring criticism

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Daiki Hashimoto of Japan poses with her gold medal for the men’s artistic gymnastics all-around final at the 2020 Summer Olympics on July 28, 2021 in Tokyo. (AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko)

TOKYO (Kyodo) – Japanese gymnast Daiki Hashimoto has responded to criticism on social media saying he got an unfairly high score for his gold medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics.

“I’m sorry my performance led to a controversial judgment on a stage like the Tokyo Olympics,” he wrote in an Instagram post Thursday night. “I hope more people will praise the athletes who have worked hard to represent their country and not resort to what appears to be defamation.”

Critics on social media criticized Hashimoto’s performance in the men’s all-around final on Wednesday, particularly his score of 14.7 on vault despite coming off the mat on landing. His combined score of 88.465 meant China’s Xiao Ruoteng had to settle for the money.

“A gold medal that is stolen from the other country, the Olympic spirit is a (expletive) !!!!!” a Twitter user wrote.

Others praised the Japanese gymnast, who at 19 became the youngest Olympic champion in history. “Daiki Hashimoto is a generational talent,” posted another Twitter user.

Hashimoto said judging can be a tough pill for athletes to swallow, but it’s part of the game.

“Sometimes we have to accept tough results, like I did on the rings. Scores are not subjective but rather based on the judges’ objective assessment. All athletes know that,” he wrote.

“My vault score may seem wrong, but the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) has published official results, and the point deduction is there.”

Criticism led the FIG, the world’s gymnastics governing body, to issue a rare statement on Thursday confirming that the judgment was “fair and precise”.

The incident added to a growing list of athletes at the Tokyo Olympics to attack online, including US star gymnast Simone Biles, who has pulled out of all of her events so far to address issues of Mental Health.

Another Japanese gymnast, Mai Murakami, said she was also targeted on social media after placing fifth in the women’s all-around final on Thursday.

“I didn’t mean to, but I saw some hurtful comments and it made me really sad. It’s unfortunate,” she said, tears in her eyes.

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