Gymnastics Officials Ask Hamm To Give Up Gold Medal

AP | 8/27/04 | AP - Eddie Pells

[Moonman62]

Why do I have the suspicion that the FIG is based in France?

[Alberta's Child]

Paul Hamm should go back and read up on the events surrounding Jim Thorpe's experience at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. He had his gold medals taken away from him because it was later determined that he had signed a minor league baseball contract (out of sheer ignorance on his part, from all accounts).

The IOC returned those gold medals to his descendants decades later. What made this story interesting was that the IOC didn't have to take the gold medals away from other athletes, or retroactively declare that there were two gold medal winners from the 1912 Olympics in those events. The gold medals were sitting in a vault somewhere, because every silver medalist in those 1912 events -- to a man -- had refused to accept the gold medals that were stripped from Thorpe.

The took his medals away from Jim Thorpe in 1912, but they could never take away the title that had been bestowed upon him by the King of Sweden . . . "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world."

[SW6906]

Rookie mistake (that I shouldn't have made after six years of posting!): I was replying after reading just the article and not the replies! Like the rest of the lamestream media, it doesn't tell the whole story. Now that I know there is more controversy than that related by the article, I say keep the medal and make the judges live with their embarrassing mistakes!

[The Sons of Liberty]

I think Paul Hamm has conducted himself with a lot of grace and integrity in this whole matter.

The "sour grapes" by the South Koreans really do not demonstrate sportsmanship, so it should be up to THEM to admit that gymnastics is a sport with no slo-mo instant replay, and is, and always has been subjective. The slow motion video shows the South Korean executing too many holds, for which he should have received a deduction, but didn't. There could be no end to the second guessing.

The South Koreans should congratulate Paul Hamm on a fantastic routine and a magnificient comeback. He, and He alone, is Olympic Champion.

[Alberta's Child]

When the russians turn in their 1972 basketball medals.

I saw a fascinating documentary on that USSR-USA game from 1972, and I was utterly stunned to learn -- after reviewing slow-motion clips and hearing the official explanations for the events that transpired at the end of the game -- that the USSR won that game fairly.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yang, the bronze medalist, was wrongly docked a tenth of a point on his parallel bars routine. If he had received the proper score, he would have won gold and Hamm would have won silver.

It is not tainted. Replay shows that the Korean athlete performed a straight arm hold 4 time and the maximum allowed number is 3. This calls for an automatic deduction of either a tenth or two tenths of a point however, the judges did not deduct for it. So if we are gong to nit pick, let's REALLY nit pick. Give the guy his tenth and then subtract it for his fault. Hamm still wins.

[Truth is a Weapon]

The South Koreans are trying to do a Democrat Florida recount. That is--just correct the mistakes that would help them win and ignore the ones that would make them lose. Either the original scoring should stand or they should look at all the videotapes and rescore everyone.

[asgardshill]

The rules are that the Olympics decide who gets the medals. If they recall the medal, he has to give it back.

The IOC (and to a lesser degree the USOC) are "the Olympics", not FIG.

"FIG president Bruno Grandi tried to have the letter sent to Hamm through the USOC, but the USOC refused to deliver it."

"In a letter back to Grandi, USOC secretary general Jim Scherr called the request "a blatant and inappropriate attempt on the part of (FIG) to once again shift responsibility for its own mistakes and instead pressure Mr. Hamm into resolving what has become an embarrassing situation for your federation."

[jpsb]

I don't think that it is fair to but this burden on Hamm shoulders. If the officials wish to reverse their decision fine, if not that is fine too. But it is their responsibility to do so, not Hamm's.

[george wythe]

They showed on NBC that the Korean actually did 4 "holds" during his routine, the max is three, with an auto deduct of 0.1 for more. He was not docked the 0.1 due to another error by the officials. They started him out 0.1 too low and then didn't dock him the mandatory 0.1.

So, the errors cancel each other out. Hamm wins Gold fairly.

Thank you for adding some facts to the biased article posted at the top.

Omitting relevant facts is the most obnoxious M.O. of the mainstream press.

[Alberta's Child]

In defense of the South Koreans here, I would make the case that the two errors are not the same. The review of the videotape of the South Korean's routine that revealed too many holds is the equivalent of an instant replay at a baseball game that showed a blown call on a play at home plate.

The scoring error in his routine -- where the judges gave the wrong starting score -- is similar to a baseball game in which a run is scored that isn't counted by the official scorer for some reason.

The first case is based entirely on the judgement of an official, and can't be undone. The second one is a procedural problem that would be held up under formal protest.

[ironman]

"It was noted that while the judges had not rated the routine properly that they could have also deducted TWO tenths for an error that they failed to see. "

Help bring me up to speed on this. What was his score? How do we know he was not penalized for the "holds" error?

[HungarianGypsy]

It is said the Olympic rules state that the tapes are not supposed to be reviewed after the tape is over. But that is what they did. Plus, there is that deduction on the Korean, as well.

[fortunecookie]

Right. And that leaves Paul Hamm in the clear as far as the IOC is concerned, which, I'm sure, is why they've backed off. They're all focusing on the 1/10 and ignoring the 2/10 deduction. He should keep it. And the Koreans were initially outraged, because the lowered scoring start point kept him out of the gold, until the tape was reviewed and then the glaring 2/10's deduction fault by the Korean became obvious. They should all give it a rest and let Paul enjoy his gold. There's no shame in silver, either. The Korean looked great and should be proud, but I know some countries put an awful lot of emphasis on gold only and are also jealous that the US is cleaning up in the medals standings.

What you say is true, but if the IOC admits that then they have no ground for the opportunistic USA bashing they just love so much.

And then what would they do for fun? The booing directed toward Paul and the US indirectly was just shameful. But so many love to bash the US and believe, despite the EU Olympic site and EU judges and EU IOC committees, that they are biased toward the US that it will be hard to convince them otherwise. No point in trying, the math prevails here.

[Alberta's Child]

Oh, I agree.

If I were Hamm I would have called a press conference and offered to pair up against the South Korean in a winner-takes-gold re-match.

[GRRRRR]

THAT IS CORRECT!! The judges MESSED UP on his parallel bar routine and SHOULD have deducted 0.2...so kiss off IOC!!

[Bikers4Bush]

They went through the routine frame by frame and noted all the deductions the judges took. Then they made note of the fact that he had at least one if not two additional releases over the allowable three.

They therfore determined that had the routine been rated and judged properly he would have gotten either the exact same score or been a tenth of a point lower than what he got.

The little crybaby should be happy he got the bronze at all.

[asgardshill]

To be completely fair, its not the IOC who is asking Hamm to return his gold medal. Its the FIG (gymnastics federation), the ones whose flawed judging caused this screwed-up situation to occur in the first place. They're the ones asking Hamm to cover for their mistakes, not the IOC.

[GRRRRR]

BREAKING NEWS---THIS JUST IN!!


The 1986 Super Bowl Champ Green Bay Packers will have to return the Lombardi Trophy because a REPLAY showed a holding penalty in the backfield during the winning touchdown....

Also, 34 of Hank Aaron's HOME RUNS will deducted because taped replays showed his left foot was out of the batter's box when he hit the ball. Rule 23(A)C.4.56.a.subpart II of paragraph 67.3a(c) was violated....

Get a grip...life happens..

G

[GRRRRR]

BREAKING NEWS---THIS JUST IN!!


The 1986 Super Bowl Champ Green Bay Packers will have to return the Lombardi Trophy because a REPLAY showed a holding penalty in the backfield during the winning touchdown....

Also, 34 of Hank Aaron's HOME RUNS will deducted because taped replays showed his left foot was out of the batter's box when he hit the ball. Rule 23(A)C.4.56.a.subpart II of paragraph 67.3a(c) was violated....

Get a grip...life happens..

G