Gymnastics officials are urgently considering introducing independent judge panels after a spate of scoring controversies marred the competition during the Athens Olympics.

In one of the biggest controversies of the Games, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) declared US Paul Hamm won the all-round gold after admiting to a judging error.

Bulgaria's Silbver medallist Jordan Jovtchev also suffered of all-judge biased scoring being deprived of the deserved Gold on behalf of Greece's Dimostenis Tambakos. Although the immediate contestation filed by Bulgarian Olympic delegation was not approved, the gymnastics federation became aware of the scorging discrepancies in judging practice.

South Korean bronze medallist Yang Tae-young should have come first but was incorrectly docked a 10th of a point from his parallel bars routine in the final 11 days ago. The Koreans appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport last Sunday to overturn the ruling body's decision after it refused to redistribute the all-round medals. The only result was that three judges were suspended over the incident

The federation considers measures to strengthen control over judges and introducing better rules for managing protests during the competition.

Artistic gymnastics could follow the example of its rhythmic counterparts, where a pool of judges is tested and hired by the FIG and do not have any links to any national federations, FIG Secretary General Andre Gueisbuhler told Reuters in an interview.

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