‘Protest Fee’ for Artistic Swimming Goes Viral as Japan Moves Up to 3rd Place After Challenge at Paris Olympics

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:23 JST, August 6, 2024

PARIS — Social media was abuzz over the “protest fee” system in artistic swimming as Japan rose to third place from sixth after it challenged the judges’ initial decision.

A fee of 500 Swiss francs (about ¥85,000), officially called a “deposit,” must be paid to protest a judging decision in artistic swimming. Many have expressed surprise at this rule, posting such comments as “They shouldn’t charge a fee” and “That’s expensive.”

The event in question was the team technical routine on Monday, the first element of the artistic swimming competition at the 2024 Paris Games. According to the Japan Swimming Federation, Japan’s theme for its performance was “Thunder.”

Speed and synchronization are key to a high score. However, a series of leg movements made near the end of the Japanese team’s performance received the lowest mark. The angles of the athletes’ legs were deemed not to have been precisely aligned, leading to a significant deduction.

Japan’s head coach Takako Nakajima immediately paid the fee to submit a protest. Judges confirmed on video that there was no problem with the leg angles and overturned the initial assessment that had Japan’s score more than 20 points below the third-place team.

If a protest is accepted, the fee is refunded. So Japan got all its 500 Swiss francs back.

Comments online included “I thought artistic swimmers naturally have the right to challenge the judging” and “I knew that video assistant referees are used in other sporting events, but I didn’t know they have to pay a fee in artistic swimming.”

One social media user criticized the system, saying that it was unfair to charge a fee, while another argued that “¥80,000 is cheap given that they moved from sixth place to third.”

The free routine event will take place Tuesday, and the acrobatic routine event will make its Olympic debut Wednesday. Results will be determined by the total scores from the three routines.