Paul Hamm gold medal situation resolved...finally! (1 Viewer)

[Casey Trowbridg]

Hamm allowed to keep gold medal

My favorite quote…


That quote came from the final arbitration pannel. They are absolutely right; but the article goes in to more detail about the decision.

Good, the right decision was made and it is finally over there can be no further appeal.

 

[Joe Szott]

Thank goodness that's over. Would have been terrible for Paul Hamm to have his medal taken away for the judge's mistakes.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Too bad the controversy probably costed him a Wheaties box cover.

 

[Chu Gai]

That it did. I thought about that whole issue for a bit and my own opinion was that Hamm was entitled to it (after all, who knows what his performance might have been if faced with a better score) but that he should have refused the gold. I'd rather have had him offer a challenge to the other fellow to have three competitions. One on South Korean soil, one on US, and the final in Greece. Best out of three.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

That would've been cool, but would've also provided for a lot more judging errors to occur. Plus, there is no way that the IOC or the F.I.G. or USOC would've allowed such an event to take place.

 

[Nathan Eddy]

One thing that doesn't get mentioned very much is the fact that the Korean guy (sorry, don't know his name) made a mistake that wasn't accounted for, a mistake that would have exactly negated the incorrect starting score, making this a moot issue. Therefore, Hamm deserves gold, even with this particular judging error in question. Plus, the Koreans didn't follow the rules by lodging their complaint in the correct time. If you're going to win by the rules, you have to lose by the rules, too.

 

[Kyle McKnight]

Nathan...don't bait those of us not "in-the-know". What was this mistake the Korean guy made that wasn't accounted for?

 

[JustinCleveland]

I'm with Kyle, I've never heard about the unreported error, and I'm in the media in the Waukesha area where Hamm is from, so I have heard a LOT about this.

 

[John Alvarez]

They could never take his medal after the Ice Skating fiasco a couple of years ago...:frowning:

 

[ZacharyTait]

The unreported error that Nate is talking about is the Korean guy made four stops during his routine, not the maximum three that he is allowed.

During a routine, the gymnast is allowed to come to a complete stop three times. If you stop more than that, you are deducted .2 points. That means not only would the score have been lowered if the error had been caught, it would have actually been .1 lower than it ended up being, dropping the Korean gymnast out of the top 3.

 

[Nathan Eddy]

Thanks Zach, that was exactly what I was talking about. I didn't realize his mistake would have made his score even lower--that makes my point even more valid. Why doesn't this get as much coverage as the incorrect starting score? It's a fact. I saw it with my own eyes. It has been noted by experts. So why was there ever any controversy in the first place? Why single out one judging error and ignore another?

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Nathan, good questions all of them and all were discussed in the Olympic thread at the time. I completely agree with you that if you're going to examine a rootene looking for flaws, than your own should be subjected to the same kind of treatment.

That's why I was so upset that the International Federation of Gymnastics actually wrote to Hamm asking him to forefit his medal. Bad enough that they made the mistake, even worse that they would've allowed an illegal protest to get to that point, yet worse that they wouldn't apply the reexamination to both rootenes and completely hidious that they would actually ask Hamm to give up his medal.

 

[Stan]

Originally I thought Hamm should have given up the medal. His score was a mistake, kind of like if you go bowling and the machine scores a strike when you really only knocked down nine pins. Hey, it's a mistake, but I'll take the points.

But Nathan brought up the real truth, the Korean messed up and earned points he shouldn't have. If the Korean truly beat him, Hamm should have returned the medal. However, it worked out in the end.

At the same time I question Hamm's ethics. I feel he took advantage of the situation and simply said "tough luck", the judges screwed up, and I'm keeping the gold.

It was a tough situation and I think he could have acted a lot more honorably.