Background

The Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships ("RGEC") took place in Budapest in May 2024. It was the last opportunity to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Three gymnasts were contending for the final qualification spot, with the final spot going to Ms Tugolukova (Cyprus) by a margin of 0.25 points over Ms Lewinksa (Poland).

Scoring method

Gymnasts are scored by a panel of judges who enter their scores. Members of the Superior Jury also enter their scores. The scores of the panel of judges are final unless a score is blocked by the result system – this occurs where the difference between the panel score and relevant member of the Superior Jury score is too large (i.e. a non-allowed deviation). If this occurs, the Superior Jury decides on the score in question.

Ms Trikomiti served as the President of the Superior Jury of the RGEC (the "President") at the RGEC. Ms Trikomiti is also the President of the Technical Committee for Rhythmic Gymnastics, (one of the governing bodies of European Gymnastics), and a member of the Fédération International Gymnastique ("FIG") Executive Committee.

Allegation

The GEF alleged that Ms Trikomiti, in her role as President, unduly interfered with the judges' work, particularly in relation to the routines of three gymnasts vying for Olympic qualification, Ms Lewinska, Ms Lytra and Ms Tugolukova. In respect of Ms Lewinksa's scores, the number of blocked scores was exceptional. Ms Trikomiti, as President, did not explain the reasons for the blocks and intervened in the scores in favour of Ms Tugolukova or against Ms Lewinska.

A member of the Superior Jury actually asked her to stop interfering, and when an Estonian judge refused to change her score, she instructed a member of staff directly to change it.

The GEF submitted that the matter was fundamentally about a breach of the Fédération International Gymnastique Rules for undue interference in the work of judges and competition results. Interestingly, there were several witnesses who all independently contacted the GEF to report on the "unprecedented situation" they had witnessed. Notably, they all stated that the competition proceeded with no difficulties until the three contenders for the last Olympic place stepped in. Ms Trikomiti denied the charges.

Panel findings

The Panel found that most of the witnesses were reliable, except the two witnesses who gave evidence in favour of Ms Trikomiti, whose statements were found to be inconsistent and unreliable. The Panel recognised that it could be difficult for witnesses to acknowledge misconduct in these circles.

The Panel accepted that Ms Trikomiti instructed the judges to alter their score, and the Panel found crucially "The mere act of instructing the judges to change their scores – particularly given Ms. Trikomiti’s role as President of the Technical Committee – constitutes an act of manipulation". It was found that the accuracy of the scores or rankings is not relevant to the charge of manipulation, what matters is whether or not she influenced the work of the judges in favour of particular gymnast or gymnasts.

Ms Trikomiti alleged that this matter was a "field of play" decision and therefore could not be adjudicated upon by the Panel. The field of play doctrine says a decision made on the playing field by judges, referees, umpires etc, who are responsible for applying the rules, should not be reviewed by disciplinary authorities. This means that arbitrators are not asked to substitute their judgement for that of a judge, referee or umpire. 

The Panel rejected that allegation as it was not asked to change the result of the competition i.e. interfere with a field of play decision. The Panel was asked to deal with the sanction for the manipulation of scores, which does not fall under the field of play principle.

Ultimately, by influencing the Superior Jury to alter the scores in favour of Ms Tugolukova (or in disadvantage of Ms Lewinska and Ms Lytra), Ms Trikomiti breached all of the relevant regulations: the FIG Code of Ethics, the FIG Code of Conduct, the FIG General Judges Rules, FIG Technical Regulations, including the judges’ oath.

Liability

Under Article 4 of the FIG Code of Discipline, federations are liable for the behaviour of their members, gymnasts, judges, officials and people assigned to officiate. European Gymnastics was therefore liable for her behaviour.

Sanction

Score manipulation is one of the most egregious violations of the FIG Rules, and Ms Trikomiti occupied the highest position in Rhythmic Gymnastics in Europe. By manipulating scores in favour of a gymnast from her home country of Cyprus, she showed "lack of sportsmanship and severe unfairness" and helped that gymnast to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. These aggravating circumstances were factored into the sanction.

It terms of mitigation, her reputation has already been damaged and she missed the Paris 2024 Olympic Games due to her temporary suspension. She also had a clean record up to this point. However, a significant sanction was deemed to be necessary to demonstrate that pressure or influence on judges to manipulate scores will not be accepted in any circumstances.

A four-year suspension was imposed, with the added annulment of her "brevet" (judging qualification). However, because the allegations do not relate to her coaching activities, her FIG coaching licence was not suspended. European Gymnastics was ordered to pay €8,000 for the reimbursement of the GEF’s investigative costs.

The decision can be appealed to the Appeals Tribunal within 21 days.