'Travesty! Judges grenaded their credibility' - Fury at score for historic Ayumu Hirano stunt at Winter Olympics

ByDan Quarrell

Updated 11/02/2022 at 11:16 GMT

Amid all the emotion surrounding snowboarding legend Shaun White, fans and commentators were most captured by the historic triple cork performed by Ayumu Hirano - and, more strikingly, the fact that the judges at the Beijing 2022 Olympics appeared to not realise the significance of the stunt he pulled off. Thankfully, Hirano went on to secure the gold medal he deserved.

There was widespread anger and confusion after the judges appeared to miss the significance of Ayumu Hirano's historic triple cork at the Beijing 2022 Olympics.

You would be forgiven for not knowing exactly what a triple cork is, but there was no doubt how special the second run was from the Japanese star as fans took to social media to share their delight and amazement at what he pulled off.

The 23-year-old, who won the silver medal in the superpipe at the 2013 Winter X Games at the age of just 14, went for broke with a quite outrageous performance which featured something unprecedented on the biggest stage.

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He became the first snowboarder ever to land a triple cork in Olympic halfpipe history during his second run - yet inexplicably the judges did not quite appreciate the effort and awarded him a miserly score of 91.75 considering the feat.

Todd Richards, a former US Olympian and seven-time Winter X Games medallist, lost his cool on NBC and led the charge in terms of a forceful backlash over the scoring.

"Uhh, what?" Richards exclaimed. "What? Is there a mistake? How did that — wait a minute. There's no way. There's no way! A 91.75?

"As far as I’m concerned, the judges just grenaded all their credibility. That run — I’ve been doing this for so long. So long. I know what a good run looks like. I know the ingredients of a winning run.

"I know when I see the best run that’s ever been done in the halfpipe. Try to tell me where you’re deducting from this run. It’s unbelievable that this is even happening - it’s a travesty, to be completely honest with you. I am irate right now."

Suddenly social media was awash with fans and experts letting rip at the officials and pointing out how special Hirano's performance actually was.

Thankfully, justice was done as Hirano earned a gold medal-winning score of 96.00 in an equally special third run as he secured the triumph in spectacular fashion.

‘The best run in snowboard halfpipe history’ – Hirano puts ‘run of his life down’ to seal gold

• 'It's been the love of my life' - Emotional White ends career with fourth-place finish
• ‘The best run in snowboard halfpipe history’ – Hirano seals gold as White misses out

Asked about the injustice of his second run, Hirano was admirably composed in his response, surely aided by the fact that he did win gold after all.

"I did what I wanted to do right at the end - I wasn't able to accept the second run's score," he said. "But I managed to express my anger well at the end."

'It is absolutely incredible' - Morgan breaks down Hirano heroics at Beijing 2022

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Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+

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