The Squeaky Wheel Award...
This is a bizarre decision, but it was probably unavoidable given the fierce reaction to the judging.
Frankly, I don't think any contest which requires subjective judging is worth the slightest attention. This particular event this year was full of shit, but so is every event every year. Just like the Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony awards. Like the Pulitzer and the Nobel. We trust a handful of people to choose the "best" athletes (artists, whatever), and they promptly demonstrate that they all have axes to grind.
The Olympics are a quaint but irrelevant tradition. At least we only have to put up with this crap every four years instead of every single one.
Every two years, Mike. The summer olympics are coming up in '04.
Pedant. :-)
Hey, for those of us whose sports only get nationally recognized in those quaint Olympics, the games are anything but irrelevant. In sports like, sayy, fencing (hehe) the Olympics are the most elite competition that everyone trains for - because unlike the World Cup, with the Olympics your sport gets widespread attention from people not already involved in the sport. (Sadly, since NBC took over the TV coverage, they've made fencing fall by the wayside. Feh.) This attention is important.
Of course, if you just don't like sports period, then your view is rather skewed. ::nudge::