For two consecutive days, the Philippines came close to losing gymnastics golds, but Aleah Finnegan and John Ivan Cruz prevailed after protests from officials.
Not once, but twice did the Philippines came dangerously close to losing gold in gymnastics at the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
Olympian Aleah Finnegan endured a tense wait before finally clinching gold in the women’s artistic gymnastics vault on Thursday, December 11.
[ALSO READ: Olympian Aleah Finnegan overcomes grief en route to SEA Games 2025 gold]
Suspense lingered as Finnegan was first shown in second place with 13.334 points, just behind Thi Quynh Nhu Nguyen of Vietnam at 13.400.
A protest was quickly filed that even Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Bambol Tolentino led the call for a recomputation.
After a hour-long review, it turned out to be a scoring error and Finnegan ultimately earned 13.433 points to secure gold.
POC secretary-general Atty. Wharton Chan then explained the mix-up as a “technical glitch” in the computerized scoring system.
“Lahat tayo kinabahan kasi alam natin maganda ‘yung pinakita ni Aleah Finnegan. With all the competitors, she’s the most experienced. We all thought and we know that she will claim gold,” Chan said.
“But unfortunately, lumabas sa screen is hindi kaniya, so nagpa-recount tayo and it was a glitch. Even the judges said it was a glitch and nagkamali ng computation. Mabuti na lang handa ‘yung mga officials to protest."
Here we go again
The drama repeated itself in the men’s artistic gymnastics vault finals on Friday, December 12.
Ivan Cruz initially saw a score of 13.817 flashed on some streaming platforms, prompting his coach, Nedal Alyousef, to file a protest.
In-venue results showed Cruz tied with Malaysia’s Muhammad Aimy at 13.833.
After review, Cruz was awarded a shared gold, while host Thailand’s Surintorn Tikumoporn took bronze with 13.717.
Alyousef, drawing from his experience as a former judge, said he spoke up because he knew what his ward deserves and was thankful the officials corrected the error.
“Ivan did a great job as a judge myself, I know what he deserves. The previous gymnast made a huge mistake and I knew something [is] wrong. I approached the head of the judges and they agreed with me on what I was thinking [that] they have the same execution," he explained in an interview with Cignal.
"It was nice [for them] to not make past of it and have them in an equal place," Alyousef added.
(With reports from Belle Gregorio, AJ Bolando/Cignal)
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Pao Ambat earned his journalism degree from Cavite State University in 2022.
Passionate about sports from a young age, he primarily covers the NBA for One Sports, while also assisting in reporting on the PVL, PBA, UAAP, and other leagues.