Points-Off thinking isn't limited to the Olympics. We teachers are painfully aware that the graduate who goes on to greatness was often a C student. We too do a lot of Points-Off grading. If the purpose of grading Olympic athletes is to identify a champion, the purpose of school grades is to drive learning. Any teacher worthy of the name likes to see students who don't care about grades or any other rewards that come from outside.
Good teaching means fostering learning that satisfies a craving inside the student.
It means helping students to find that craving. But that's so hard to do. It's difficult the way trying to grade a gymnast is. It's so much harder than deducting points for moving a leg when you land on the mat. Points-Off is worse than just avoiding the real content of human accomplishment.