Paul Hamm Wins Gold Because Of Judges' Errors

[Broadwaybaby614]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:01pm

Oh, dear. I was so happy for him, too. Poor guy.
Yahoo! Article Says Scoring Mistake Gave Hamm Gold Medal

[lovettespies]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:05pm

Wow, that's depressing. I don't know what to say.

[Broadwaybaby614]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:08pm

He gets to keep the medal, but it doesn't really mean anything anymore. It wouldn't to me, anyway...

*sigh*

[LadyGuenevere]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:09pm

I would personally give it up. I couldn't live with a gold medal I didn't earn.

Poor Paul.

[Broadwaybaby614]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:11pm

That would be the noble thing to do. He might. I don't even know if he can, though, because the results can't be changed after the fact, that's a rule...but we'll see. Baaaah.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:33pm

The South Koreans waited to long to protest. The medal is Hamm's because they were too late. I feel that this only slightly makes the medal any less special.

Updated On: 8/21/04 at 02:33 PM

[lovettespies]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 2:52pm

Yeah, I mean you should know what the have your start value posted as before the meet ends. I still feel bad for the Koreans though. Did you see how upset they looked at the end?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 4:11pm

At the very least, there will always be an asterisk next to his name - and that may seem tainted to some.

[Sunfish]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 5:14pm

And it is the matter of personal achievement. He's got the gold, but he "knows" he didn't really win. It's got to be really disheartening.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 5:54pm

Nancy Kerrigan woulda kep' it.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:46pm

The reasonable thing to do, to keep his sanity, is to ask the judges to take back the gold and give him the silver. That way, he still gets something.

[Plum]

Posted: 8/21/04 at 10:49pm

Maybe he'll hold on to it. Judging is always subjective, and with a margin of error that small- who knows? Maybe if a judge hadn't sneezed at an inconvenient time, Hamm would have won, anyway. I'm sure after the comeback he made he feels like a winner anyway.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/22/04 at 7:02am

The arguement put forth by the American coach was this: If the Koreans had contested at the time of the infraction, then the different score would have made everyone aproach their last routine differently. In other words, he says you can't just plug in the higher score for the Korean for that one round and assume that everyone else's score would have remained the same afterwards. To a large degree he is absolutely right - and yet I can't help but feel that this will affect how Mr. Hamm (and everyone else) views this competition.

[KMF_NYC]

Posted: 8/22/04 at 8:34am

this is a human sport, judged by people -- errors are made all the time...granted they are not as public as this -- it's hismedal. The judges erred, the coaches and South Koreans erred..that's a paart of the game

[eyeonbroadway]

Posted: 8/22/04 at 8:55am

I agree. In any sport that involves subjective judging there is always an element of fuzziness to decisions. Whether it's nationalism or "earned favoritism", it's an accepted part of the sport and if an honest mistake is made that's just part of the deal. Only when there is evidence of blatant misuse of authority, as in Salt Lake City, or an equipment screw-up like the height of the vault horse in Sydney should there be an intervention in the results of the event. Paul Hamm has every right to his medal under the accepted circumstances of his sport and there's no reason to look at it as tainted.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 8/22/04 at 11:50am

In my opinion, Paul Hamm turned in a Golden performance with his final two routines, and is a champion.

He should be proud of what he accomplished, and has the right to keep his well-deserved Gold medal.

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/22/04 at 6:03pm

Hmmmm. This is a question for the ethicist in the New York Times, but let me take a stab at it.

If I were Mr. Hamm, I guess I would give up the medal if it were going to someone really hot, like one of those Romanians in the hopes I could have my way with him.

But since I find the South Korean bronze medalists pretty much of a dog, I would keep it.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 8/22/04 at 6:04pm

Excellent thinking, Zola!

[Akbar-n-Jeff]

Posted: 8/22/04 at 8:11pm

Somewhere in all of this is a Bel Ami film just bursting to come out:
"Hamm Bone and Roumanian Steak...Breakfast of Champions"

Updated On: 8/22/04 at 08:11 PM