There she was standing next to loving Dad Valeri waiting and waiting for seemingly ever to find out whether her uneven bars routine was enough to pass China’s He Kexin for another Olympic gold medal.

Nastia Liukin had already performed brilliantly at these 2008 Beijing Olympics stealing the show by edging teammate Shawn Johnson for gold in the all around competition. The 18 year-old out of Texas had also taken silver along with the rest of her USA teammates in team competition and bronze the night before in the floor comp. Now, here the cute blonde who finally got to perform in front of her nervous Mom who never watches was hoping she’d add another gold to her collection.

For some reason, the scores weren’t posted right away and took a little longer than usual. What was the holdup? Either her routine which was technically and artistically sound without any glaring mistakes was good enough to win gold or would place her second for another silver instead. Only then the unthinkable happened. Liukin’s score was the same 16.725 Kexin had tallied placing each female gymnast in a virtual tie. However, due to a silly IOC tiebreaker rule, somehow the American saw a “2″ next to her name.

“I turned to my dad and said, ‘Dad, we got the same score,’ a somehow composed smiling Liukin would later say. He looked up and said, ‘Oh yeah.’ We started getting a little confused,” the mystified young lady added.

And why not? It’s not everyday that you finish tied with a competitor from a rival country which has been questioned due to the age of their girl gymnasts. If you’ve seen how young a couple look, then you have a pretty good idea why.

Due to a lower score from Australia which was baffling in itself (what exactly did they watch), Liukin lost out on the second tiebreaker with Kexin getting the nod due to 0.33 less in deductions which was enough to decide a precious gold medal. Only the foolish IOC could allow such a ridiculous technicality to screw over an athlete who was just as worthy of Olympic gold.

“It’s not correct. I believe it’s correct to have two gold medals,” International Gymnastics Federation president Bruno Grandi pointed out. “But this is my modest opinion. The IOC is different.”

Ironically enough, gymnastics used to hand out duplicate medals at the Olympics even allowing Liukin’s Dad Valeri to earn one of his golds on high bars 20 years prior in Seoul, Korea. However, due to the IOC wanting change back in 1997, duplicate medals were done away with and in came the tiebreaker rule determining winners instead of the athletes themselves.

Isn’t that what the competitive spirit of the Olympics are supposed to be about here? Not some dopey scoring system where half the time, these judges can’t be trusted to give the right scores. Otherwise, maybe Johnson wins gold the other night and Liukin scores higher.

You could see the disappointment written all over Liukin’s face despite getting silver. She still said all the right things even after getting explanations and consoled.

“I’m a little disappointed I tied,” she said. “It wasn’t like I got second by three-tenths or five-tenths. I had the same score. That’s what makes it a little harder to take.”

“Scoring is scoring, that’s our sport. In other sports, like track and field, it’s all timed and it doesn’t have anything to do with judging. You do your routine and you turn it over to the judges. That’s what we’ve been going through our entire lives and we’ve come to accept it.”

Was her routine superior to Kexin’s? Both were very good and had little errors during their flips but only one landed perfectly. That was the elegant Liukin who nailed her dismount while Kexin took a slight right step. If we were judging, that should have been enough to give the American a second gold. Not that we have an issue with each finishing with the same score. It’s just the way they determined who won. Why couldn’t there just be co-gold medalists? Would it have been so wrong?

“I play by the rules. So in my opinion, I have to say yes,” Liukin responded of whether the result was fair. “Judges have their own opinion and once you land your dismount, there’s nothing else you can do.”

Spoken like a mature winner who fully grasps what happened even though the circumstances were bizarre. Don’t try telling the IOC.

For now, she’s satisfied with what she’s got matching the four medals Dad won in 1988. She’ll get a chance for a fifth in the final gymnastic event tomorrow.

“I have the most important medal and it’s the all-around gold,” Liukin properly noted using perspective of her noteworthy accomplishments thus far. “I have four medals now and I’m tied with my dad. One gold, two silvers and a bronze, and I have one more chance to get one gold that I feel like I missed out on today.”

Only it wasn’t her who missed out. It was the IOC and one bad judge.