Posted on 08/23/2004 4:20:54 PM PDT by Rakkasan1
Let me be clear here, since some self-righteous columnists who wouldn't know a handstand from a night stand have entered the fray: Paul Hamm should not give up his gold medal.
Nor is his gold medal tarnished, as the headline writers have suggested. Nor should a second gold medal in the men's all-around competition be awarded to South Korea's unfortunate Yang Tae Young. This is not another Skategate, where judges in the pairs competition in Salt Lake were caught colluding. It's time for the media to back off.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportsillustrated.cnn.com ...
I think Hamm and the silver medal winner should ask the IOC to give the gold to the South Korean.
But...I am an old fart and my sense of what is right is old fashioned.
I have been very impressed with Hamm's response. He is a classy guy and deserves to keep that medal.
Ive seen lots of Juding errors its nothing new.
Why? Do you know how many mistakes are made routinely on scoring. The start score can be off (and there is a time to protest that, which the Koreans did not do). The deductions can be wrong. The judges can view it wrong from their angle. Etc.. Some of it is subjective according to taste. It can even be relative according to the other performers scores and just who the judges like the best. Unless they go event by event and re-examine each and every detail of the scoring, Hamm should keep the gold medal and the Korean should keep what he got and stop whining. It's not fair to break the rules on one point without going over all the other points that might favor Hamm. The rules demand that starting score protests be made at the event, not later.
Good grief. Let's give everyone a gold so no one's feelings are hurt. It has to be FAIR.......it wasn't FAIR.........sheesh.
Believe it or not, I agree with you. If all the judges agreed it was a mistake, why would I want it knowing I really didn't win it?
There's no reason for paul hamm to give up the gold.
If the koreans want to go back to the disputed performance, they can't have it both ways - the korean would lose more points than he gained if they corrected his starting score AND made the proper deductions for his errors that weren't marked off earlier.
Paul hamm earned and deserves the gold. The korean doesn't.
he won it - read the article. The korean made mistakes that weren't deducted from the routine in question. If they want to adjust his starting score, they should also adjust for any deductions he didn't get the first time around.
Just another reason why judged sports suck.
Sorry Ghost, if the kid had class he'd give the gold to the rightful owner, and settle for silver. As I understand the issue, the kid didn't win the gold.
The issue is a math mistake. No one is suggesting that we go back and re-evaluate the whole thing. If it was your kid, I am sure you would be screaming at the ref.
Amen to that, although to some degree baseball, football, and basketball all suffer from poor judgment calls by the officials.
If it ain't played with a ball, it ain't a sport!!
Yes he did win the gold. There is a process for protesting starting points. The Koreans messed up. It is not fair to let them have one point re-evaluated after the fact without re-examining each and every event for all competitors. Maybe there were more mistakes. You do not get to change the rules after the fact.
no. Don't try to say what I'd do, either.
1. There was a time to dispute the starting score. That was when that event was still going on. Not 48 hours later. That is the fault of the korean gymanst and his coaches. Not paul hamm.
2. Like the article states (read it if you haven't) - decisions are not made in a vacuum. If paul hamm had a higher score to beat, he could have adjusted his last two routines to have a higher starting score. To try to take it away because someone else made a mistake that he can no longer react to would be an atrocity.
3. You cna't have it both ways. If mistakes were made on a routine, you can't just go back and say "only eliminate the mistakes that go against me".
If he was starting scored and judged correctly, he STILL WOULD HAVE LOST.
To go back and say the korean should get the gold because he wasn't given the correct starting score and yet ignore the flaws he had that weren't caught (hey, we can't undo the past, dontcha know) - is nothing less than blatant hypocrisy.
Paul hamm earned the gold. The korean did it. The fault is with the korean and his coaches. They screwed up. They didn't pay attention. And now they're whining and being little babies because they want a good adjustment while ignoring any bad adjustment.
Was it the only mistake made? If they want to re-examine the event and change the rules of protest after the fact, then let Hamm have his scores re-evaluated for judging errors. It's not fair to zone in after the fact on only one point. The Koreans messed up in the protest process that was well established prior to the competition. They shouldn't get to change the rules after the fact.
Maybe the koreans were just taking a point from the al gore playbook - recount the votes that are for me and ignore everything else!
And people are defending this crap!
I revert to my point--can't you see there is a difference between a MATH mistake and other kinds of mistakes?
I know. It's appalling that people are defending the act of changing the rules after the fact. There were a couple of times I thought Hamm's scores were too low. Let's see if judging mistakes were made that might raise his scores too. It's only fair, if we are going to break the protest rules.
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