Seven judges warned for "biased and unsatisfactory" scoring at 2014 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships

The International Gymnastics Federation have warned seven judges ©Getty Images

Seven judges who officiated at the 2014 International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Nanning, China have been issued with warnings and told to “pay closer attention” at future events for scoring irregularities during the competition.

Each judge has 21 days to appeal their sanctions, which were announced today by gymnastics’ world governing body.

Disciplinary proceedings were opened against 14 judges who officiated at the 2014 World Championships after some of the scores given “appeared biased or unsatisfactory”, though the cases against half of them were dismissed.

The seven warned judges include five from the men’s competition and two from the women’s events.

The scoring in the Chinese city was reviewed after the conclusion of the competition, as the FIG do after every major sporting event that they hold, and it was found that the majority of the judges had carried out “excellent” work.

The development follows the FIG’s Disciplinary Commission recently suspending two judges for bias at the 2014 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Izmir, Turkey, with three others given warnings.

The seven judges have been warned after the FIG found their scoring to be "biased or unsatisfactory" at the 2014 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships ©Getty Images

FIG President Bruno Grandi, who has been at the helm of the governing body since 1996 but is due to step down next year, had warned judges ahead of the 2015 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, saying they must “realise the responsibility that they have”.

The FIG have claimed that they have strengthened its judges training program and scoring analysis system due to the fact that scoring is often down to human judgement.

“As it does after every World Gymnastics Championships, following the 2014 World Artistic Championships in China, the FIG performed a deep analysis of the scores given by each judge in order to assure that the results were in compatibility with the current code of points,” an FIG statement read.

“This analysis permits the FIG to recognise the excellent work accomplished by the vast majority of judges at the Nanning World Championships.

“However, some of the scores given by 14 judges appeared biased or unsatisfactory, which led the FIG to open disciplinary proceedings against them.”