Tuesday, February 19, 2002
Bean denied bronze by Canuck judge
By CHRIS STEVENSON -- SLAM! Sports
DEER VALLEY, Utah -- Jeff Bean thought he deserved to be on a podium Tuesday.
The Ottawa freestyle skier thought he deserved to be making a trip to the
medal plaza in downtown Salt Lake.
He is probably right.
The 25-year-old deserved to see two years of being in the gym every day
rehabilitating a leg, broken in four places, rewarded.
Instead, he missed a bronze medal by 22/100ths of a point and to add to the
sting, it was the Canadian judge who marked him most harshly on his air and
form in the aerials competition.
Canadian judge John Buhler awarded Bean a score of 5.9 for his
back-Full-double-Full-Full on his second trick, when the marks from the other
four judges ranged from 6.0-6.4. If Buhler had given Bean the average of the
other four judges, the bronze medal would have been Bean's.
"There's is absolutely nothing I could have done better," said Bean. "I am
going to go see the judge and find out why it happened and work through it.
All I'm going to do is learn from this. Historically, our sport has had great
judging. I have to find out why (he was marked down)."
Bean, who was 11th in Nagano four years ago and owns four World Cup medals,
came up big when it mattered most.
"Jeff put it down," said Vancouver's Andy Capicik, who finished eighth in his
Olympic swan song. "He just missed the podium and that's a shame."
Steve Omischl of North Bay, ON, finished 11th.
To not get the scores observers felt Bean deserved could have been
infuriating, but Bean shrugged it off.
"Training for (2006) starts tomorrow," he said. "I could dwell on his for a
long time, but it would just drive me crazy.
"I came through....This is what it is all about. Being on this stage, being
up there, performing under pressure. I did it. I pulled it out. When I landed
my first jump, I thought the score would be higher. But I put myself in a
position to be judged. I chose this sport. I have to accept that.
"I did two of the best jumps of my life. How can I be upset?"
That's an interesting question.
Doesn't he watch TV, listen to pro athletes, hear how it is almost always is
somebody else's fault?
You can only imagine the frustration of keeping your part of the deal -
landing two jumps in the crucible of Olympic competition - only to see the
performance go unrewarded.
There will be no cry go up like there was for Jamie Sale and David Pelletier
in figure skating, no minting of another medal.
Bean wasn't the only one to get some questionable marks.
Gold medal winner Ales Valenta landed - with a bit of a bobble - a triple
back flip with five twists - the first time five twists have been done in
Olympic competition - and barely received the top score of the day. He
received 129.98 points for that bit of history and had a two-jump total of
257.02 points. The silver was won by American Joe Pack with 251.64 points
while Alexei Grichin edged out Bean with a total of 251.19.
Bean received scores of 128.60 for his first jump and 122.37 for his second
for a total of 250.97.
After the competition, Bean made his way to his father, Peter, and the two
embraced.
"What else could you do?" asked the father.
"He should have been second," said Peter moments later. "If he finished
fourth and that was the right position, we would all be ecstatic. But fourth
is not where he finished. He should have been second. At least third. I don't
want this to sound like a father complaining. I thought the scoring on a lot
of the second jumps was inconsistent. How does (American favourite) Eric
Bergoust go from first to last because of a little slapback? It was bizarre.
"I watched (Jeff) go to the gym every day after he broke his leg (in
December, 1999). Two years in the gym allowed to do what he did today. It's
sad, for a lot of different reasons."
Bean handled the outcome with class. He applauded Valenta's worthiness as a
champion.
"It was a great jump and great for our sport," he said. "Every sport needs
people like that, who take the sport where it hasn't been before like (figure
skater) Elvis (Stojko) with his quad. They put the bar up where no one says
it is possible. They say, 'I do.' (Valenta) deserved to be on the podium.
"I just wish I was up there with him."
2002 Games Freestyle Skiing Coverage
