Gymnastics: Kiwi loses medal as judges 'stuff up'

A major blunder by officials has forced a New Zealand gymnast to return her bronze medal won at the Australian championships in Sydney.

The mistake was made after officials incorrectly calculated results and awarded the medals without rechecking.

That meant that North Harbour's Kate Ronaldson plummeted from third to 13th in the all-round competition and missed out on any individual apparatus finals.

New Zealand team coach and manager Paula Forbes said the result of the error was embarrassing for Ronaldson, who was to return the medal last night.

"Kate is embarrassed about giving her medal back. Not the fact that she didn't make it in the end but the giving back of the medal after being awarded it," Forbes said.

Apart from Ronaldson, Germaine Tang of North Harbour dropped from fifth to eighth in the all-round division and made the final in rope instead of the ribbon final she thought she was in.

Nicole Hooper of Dunedin did not believe she was in any finals and went shopping until Forbes was told she was in the rope final and had to track her athlete down.

Ronaldson said: "The stuff-up should have been avoided. Officials had to verify two lines of judging results to make sure they were right. The girls are absolutely devastated."

- NZPA