The 2025 World Games were held in Chengdu, China, where women’s freestyle parkour unfolded at scenic Xinglong Lake. In a dramatic finale, China’s Shang Chunsong took the gold with a final score of 24.7, her execution score rising from 9.2 to 11.2 after a review, while Japan’s Nene Nagai earned silver with a 22.9 tally. Though Nene delivered a strong performance, she was not pleased with the late score adjustment that upended the standings. What did she say?
“Even though I won, the Chinese athlete’s score changed, and she came in second place. I’m not happy with how her score changed, so I’m writing this here. I just want to say one thing to those reading this: I have a lot of respect for her. She’s a great athlete.” Nene wrote in an Instagram post she made 3 days ago. Speaking of her 12.9 E score, she called her run flawless, whilst she pointed out that Shang’s run was not.
The Japanese cited the flaws, “full-in and hit her head (It’s hard to see from the audience because of the blind spot. The judges say it was a hit to the head), and the double back was a rollout, so normally an E score wouldn’t be high. Her first score was E 9.2, which I honestly think was reasonable.” Shang’s difficulty score came in at 13.5 points, with an initial execution score of 9.2. That gave her a provisional total of 22.7, 0.2 points behind Japan’s Nene Nagai, placing her second.
She further added, “But after the men’s speed run and before the awards ceremony, the scores suddenly changed, and her E went up by two points to 11.2. All the judges agreed that the initial 9.2 was correct, but for some reason, the points went up.” Shortly before the medal ceremony, judges conducted a video review, citing visibility issues; some referees had missed certain movements due to venue blind spots.
They concluded that the execution deductions were too severe. As a result, they raised Shang’s E score, bringing her total to 24.7, which overturned the rankings and awarded her the gold medal. This had the fans saying, “score system = s–t“. Nene herself was not happy. She questioned whether it was fair for rankings to be altered in such a manner, especially given that the tournament was being hosted in the athletes’ home country. Fans are in her support.
Gymnastics Fans Not Happy With the Result
This controversy also brought heat towards China as well, “‘China athletes’ and ‘a competition in China’ what could go wrong ” The event was conducted in Chengdu, China, and Shang Chunsong comes from China. One fan felt that this was unnecessary, and another user replied to it, “World Games in China this time is so weird in many things! ” China questioned again. Fans feel the same as Nagai highlighted in her post.
Another user commented, “These situations are not only disrespectful but also harmful to the athletes that competed and the sport itself. Thanks for sharing this “. Changing scores after the competition can feel unfair to athletes who gave everything they had. It can be frustrating and disheartening, shaking their confidence and leaving fans confused. Moments like this also make the sport feel less trustworthy, even when judges are trying to be fair.
One user also went off saying, “That’s shame that happened even more in the biggest and strictest competition we have in Parkour… it’s just disrespectful for the athletes who work hard for competition like this,and obviously disrespectful for our sport too because it removes credibility to parkour…Thanks for being honest and to not let it go like nothing happen, you can be proud of yourself nene you won for sure in my heart “.
Once again altering scores after the event can be really discouraging for athletes who poured their hearts into the competition. It can leave them feeling unrecognized, confuse fans, and cast doubt on the fairness of the sport, even when officials act with good intentions.
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