International Bias Detected in Judging Gymnastic Competition at the 1984 Olympic Games

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not a pattern of bias was shown by men's and women's gymnastics judges at the 1984 Olympic Games. To determine whether judges were biased in favor of gymnasts from their own countries and against gymnasts from countries in close competition with their own, the scores of each individual judge were compared to the mean of the other three judges on the panel Results of six sign test analyses revealed that both male and female judges were biased in their scoring of gymnasts (p<.001). Judges scored gymnasts from their countries higher than the remaining members of the panels. Judges also scored gymnasts on teams both immediately ahead and behind their own lower than other judges on their panels.