Hi-tech advances

Over the past four years, in an effort to cleanse the reputation of the Olympics and to restore people's belief in fair play, the world governing bodies of several sports have tweaked rules, disciplined bad referees and, most importantly, introduced hi-tech facilities to reinforce the integrity of competition.

For the first time in Olympic history, fencing, gymnastics and tennis have all adopted video refereeing systems to challenge decisions made by human referees during competitions in Beijing.

The Refereeing Commission of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) decided in July 2006 to use video refereeing at the World Championships, Grand Prix events and the Olympics.

"The feedback (from video referees) at the 2006 Worlds and other major events has been positive," BOCOG's competition director of fencing Yuan Xiangyang told China Daily.

During a match, each fencer has two opportunities to ask for an instant review of the bout if they have any doubts about the scoring decision. If they successfully challenge the referee, they still have two chances left.

"Fencers, coaches and referees have already recognized the introduction of the new system and they are trying to get used to it as soon as possible," Yuan said.

"The video referee can help improve the fairness of the sport."

Fencing referee Ao Jie, former captain of the Chinese national women's fencing foil team and now the FIE competition manager, said fencing is a sport of high speed and it's hard for referees to avoid mistakes in their decisions. She said the video replay system helps the referee make the right judgments and prevent controversial mistakes.

Moreover, she said, the FIE has strengthened its management of referees since the Athens Games -- any referee who is found trying to influence match results by making purposely incorrect judgments will be expelled.

"I believe that the fairness of fencing events at the Beijing Games can be guaranteed with the help of these measures," she said.

Gymnastics embarrassment

The embarrassing boos from thousands of gymnastics spectators in Athens helped speed up the reform of the modern sport.

FIG media and communication officer Philippe Silacci said the governing body is determined to reduce the number of gymnastics judging errors by employing a video monitoring system, though it won't be free for athletes or coaches to use.

Coaches will pay up to $300 for a first appeal, $500 for a second and $1,000 for a third to ask referees to review their own competition video clips and possibly overturn any unfair decisions during the competition.

FIG officials explained that they charge the fees to avoid any misuse of the video system and to keep the competitions running smoothly.

The system was used at 2005 Worlds and will make its Olympic debut in Beijing.

Hawk-Eye on the court