ATHENS, Aug. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said here on Saturday that they accept thehuman error in judging or refereeing but never tolerate any manipulation.

    Rogge made the remarks on the last day of the Athens Olympics, which have been hit by a string of scoring or judging disputes in such sports as gymnastics, fencing, equestrian and taekwondo.

    "We had some difficulty with some sports in judges," said Rogge.

    But he stressed that it is impossible to avoid the judging controversies because there is always "human element" in it.

    "I want to remind the IOC policy that we accept the human errors, which you cannot avoid, but we can't accept the manipulation.

    "If there is a sign of manipulation, the IOC will intervene andchange the results," he said.

    The judging controversies in the Athens Games have not reached the level of the Salt Lake City Olympics figure skating scandal two years ago, and there have been no suggestions of ethnic impropriety.

    The IOC doesn't control judging and it is the international federations of the 28 summer Olympic sports which run the events and appoint judges, referees and other technical officials.

    But Rogge said that they will continue to work on the judging issue with the international federations trying jointly to find the best possible solution.

    He also pointed out the cooperation between the IOC and IFs hasled to improvement of the judging or scoring in boxing and ice skating.

    "We all remember the judging controversy in the boxing in 1988 Seoul Games, but that has led to a change in judging system with computers. There is hardly any controversy in the sport, because the judging is now fairer and considered transparent."

    Rogge was referring to the boxing decision which deprived Roy Jones of a gold medal against a South Korean fighter in 1988.

    Rogge also cited as example the controversial decision in Salt Lake City Winter Games when a French judge claimed she had been "pressured" to favor a Russian pair instead of a Canadian couple.

    "You also remember our discussions with the international skating union after the Salt Lake City Games. They have also revised the scoring system including the computer technology and it is going extremely well," he added. Enditem