Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

S. Korean Unlikely to Get Gymnastics Gold
Freak Press ^ | Aug 22, 12:58 PM EDT | EDDIE PELLS

Posted on 08/22/2004 10:24:22 AM PDT by School of Rational Thought

S. Korean Unlikely to Get Gymnastics Gold

By EDDIE PELLS AP Sports Writer

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The satisfaction of knowing they should have won gymnastics gold might be all the South Koreans get. While the country's Olympic team met with lawyers Sunday to plan its appeal over the medal given to American Paul Hamm, the Court of Arbitration for Sport indicated it won't take the case.

Hamm won the all-around title Wednesday after judges incorrectly scored Yang Tae-young's parallel bars routine, failing to give him enough points for the level of difficulty. Yang ended up with the bronze.

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: olympics; usteam
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last
Upon hearing the news, Presidential candidate and hero John Kerry called American Paul Hamm to offer his congratulations for "winning" the gold.
1 posted on 08/22/2004 10:24:23 AM PDT by School of Rational Thought
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: School of Rational Thought

I dunno. If there was a mistake, a real mistake, it should be corrected. And it does seem there was a real mistake.


2 posted on 08/22/2004 10:28:42 AM PDT by HarryCaul
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

They should give this guy the Gold, and let Hamm keep his... and the 4th place finisher, give him a Bronze... seems like common sense to me...


3 posted on 08/22/2004 10:29:51 AM PDT by oolatec
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: School of Rational Thought

Three words: Roy Jones, Junior.


4 posted on 08/22/2004 10:32:55 AM PDT by RichInOC (...somebody had to say it...why not me?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: School of Rational Thought
What a bunch of irrational nonsense. They are saying it was supposed to be judged higher based on some criteria before the actual performance. Libnastics.
5 posted on 08/22/2004 10:41:40 AM PDT by Jim_Curtis (Liberals lie at the premise, accept their premise and you can only lose the argument.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: School of Rational Thought
I predict that before the Olympics end, Paul Hamm will make the gesture of giving his gold medal to the other gymnast in a demonstration of the American spirit.
6 posted on 08/22/2004 10:47:06 AM PDT by Pukin Dog (Sans Reproache)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pukin Dog

Nah, he is keeping his medal.


7 posted on 08/22/2004 10:48:16 AM PDT by HitmanLV (I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Jim_Curtis
What a bunch of irrational nonsense

I'm not so sure. They are supposed to be judged against a "level of difficulty." The Korean was supposed to judged against a difficulty level of 10. He was not, instead he was judged against 9.9. And that was the difference. Had he been judged against a 10, he would have won the gold.

Screw ups all around, to be sure. What I don't understand is why did his team let him start the event. Don't they confirm all this before they start?

I think the guy got screwed. They need a "Upon further review..." system to correct errors like this.

LVM

8 posted on 08/22/2004 10:49:48 AM PDT by LasVegasMac (Quick, vote for The French One, before he changes his mind and votes for GWB.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: School of Rational Thought
If Hamm is smart and after all the rulings are handed down, he should get together with the 2 Korea gymnasts & offer to swap medals. It would be a great gesture of sportsmanship & Hamm would get tremendous press for it. I know he worked hard for it, and the comback from the vault was heroic, but the Judges' error gave Hamm the gold and an asterix.

What's more valuable to Hamm: the Gold, or a Silver with a huge celebrity bump?

The only obstacle is that the Korean with the Silver would have to be willing to accept the Bronze. Don't know if he'd do that. Also, the governing bodies might suspend the gymnasts for such an unsanctioned deal.

I don't like this "give both a Gold". That was BS when they did it with the figure skaters, and it would be BS now. There can only be one winner.

9 posted on 08/22/2004 10:51:46 AM PDT by Tallguy (If Clinton did a good job stopping the Millenium Bomber, I've got 2 Towers in NYC to sell you...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jim_Curtis
What a bunch of irrational nonsense. They are saying it was supposed to be judged higher based on some criteria before the actual performance. Libnastics.

It was supposed to be judged on what it was supposed to be judged on. The South Korean chose his routine for its difficulty level in order to be able to win. The difficulty level was done incorrectly. He did indeed have a higher score than Hamm.

Unfortunately, the rules don't allow for a change at this point
10 posted on 08/22/2004 10:54:18 AM PDT by Arkinsaw
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: School of Rational Thought

Why isn't Al Gore asking for a recount?


11 posted on 08/22/2004 10:55:13 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tallguy

I agree. The marketablity of Hamm's gold is diminished if not shot to hell. Because it's acknowledged by everyone that the Korean should have won Hamm picture WON'T end up on Wheaties' boxes. If, however, in a diplay of sportsmanship he exchanges medals with the two other gymnasts, he will recieve a tremendous amount of positive publicity and likely garner some endorsement deals he otherwise wouldn't.

Also, not to be forgotten is it's the right thing to do.


12 posted on 08/22/2004 11:02:28 AM PDT by Neville72
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: School of Rational Thought

They ought to have a do-over.


13 posted on 08/22/2004 11:03:59 AM PDT by Tazlo (I need to get a tagline)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HarryCaul

If they felt there was a problem with the scoring, the Koreans should have protested right away. The rules say the protest must be made before the end of the next rotation. After that, no scores can be changed.

We don't know for sure if this particular mistake would have changed the outcome. Maybe there were other scoring mistakes among the many other routines by other gymnasts. But the only one that has been retroactively examined is this one score by the Korean.

If they were going to change the outcome now, the only fair way would be to reexamine the scoring for everyone for the entire night. There's a reason they don't do that. It would be like using "instant" replay on entire football games and changing the score after the game has been over for days.

When it's over, it's over.


14 posted on 08/22/2004 11:22:25 AM PDT by saquin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: RichInOC

My thoughts exactly. These hypocrites were staging demonstrations against the US when the US delegation had the temerity to suggest that something was amiss with the Roy Jones Jr. decision. Subsequent investigations have shown that judges were bribed to favor Korean athletes yet Jones still doesn't have his gold.

Even if a mistake in judging was made so what? What other mistakes were made and that haven't been examined? Some mistakes in judging may have hurt Hamm and benefitted the Koreans and haven't been examined; who knows? Unless some sort of fix was actually altered the decision, allow game time judgements to stand.


15 posted on 08/22/2004 11:26:44 AM PDT by pragmatic_asian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Arkinsaw
Where is the proof that the judges judged the routine based on flawed criteria? Is it a matter of different judges watching the routine think it should have scored higher so therefore it is being said that the event judges must have scored it on some flawed criteria?

Did Pat Buchanan win the silver?

16 posted on 08/22/2004 11:28:28 AM PDT by Jim_Curtis (Liberals lie at the premise, accept their premise and you can only lose the argument.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: HitmanNY
He will exchange medals before the end of the week. Bet on it.
17 posted on 08/22/2004 11:31:22 AM PDT by Pukin Dog (Sans Reproache)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Jim_Curtis

Didn't they go ahead and award that Canadian skating duo the Gold after the fact, and had them share the gold with the original winners in the last Winter Olympics? Why can't they do the same here?


18 posted on 08/22/2004 11:32:00 AM PDT by dfwgator (It's sad that the news media treats Michael Jackson better than our military.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Tazlo

"they ought to have a do over"

or an intense round of "Rock/Paper/Scissors"


19 posted on 08/22/2004 11:33:12 AM PDT by Soylent Democrats (President George W. Bush in 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Pukin Dog

If you say so.


20 posted on 08/22/2004 11:34:27 AM PDT by HitmanLV (I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson