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Metropolis Reality Forums Ť World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up ť

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   World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up

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Topic: World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up (Read 153 times)

luci
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World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up
« on: Aug 27^th, 2004, 3:24pm »

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ATHENS, Greece - World gymnastics officials were looking for a way out of the Paul Hamm medal mess. All they did was make more people mad. The president of the International Gymnastics Federation asked Hamm to give up his all-around gold medal as the ultimate show of good will, but the U.S. Olympic Committee told him to take responsibility for the problem and refused even to deliver the request.

The dispute over scores has mushroomed into a bigger debate about sportsmanship, judging and the state of the Olympics themselves.

"I don't know of any comparison in any sport anywhere where you crown an athlete, crown a team and then say, 'Oh, that was a mistake. Would you fix this for us?'" USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth said Friday.

FIG president Bruno Grandi suggested in a letter to Hamm that giving the gold to South Korea's Yang Tae-young "would be recognized as the ultimate demonstration of fair play." Judges scored Yang's parallel bars routine incorrectly on Aug. 18, failing to give him enough points for the level of difficulty.

Grandi tried to send the letter Thursday night to Hamm through the USOC, but the committee's leaders declined to pass it along.

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."

"The USOC finds this request to be improper, outrageous and so far beyond the bounds of what is acceptable that it refuses to transmit the letter to Mr. Hamm," the letter said.

Hamm returned to the United States earlier this week. He declined comment Friday through his agent, but he has said in the past that he has no intention of giving up his medal unless ordered to do so by FIG.

Grandi said he believed the issue was closed until he learned of Hamm's earlier comment.

Hamm's coach, Miles Avery, said Hamm is still frustrated about having his victory sullied by controversy.

"If I was Bruno Grandi, I would have said my officials did a bad job and correct that problem and not ask this young man to give back his medal," Avery said in an interview in Columbus, Ohio.

Yang, the bronze medalist, was wrongly docked a tenth of a point on his second-to-last routine. He finished third, 0.049 points behind Hamm. Add the extra 0.100, and Yang would have finished 0.051 points ahead of Hamm. That's assuming, of course, that everything in the final rotation would have played out the same way.

Three judges were suspended after the error was discovered, but FIG said the results would stand because the South Koreans didn't protest the error until after the meet.

The South Koreans canceled a news conference Friday night after learning of the FIG letter and the USOC response.

Jae Soon-yoo, spokeswoman for the South Korean delegation, said the Koreans met with International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge on Tuesday.

"Dr. Rogge made it very clear that dual golds were not acceptable by the IOC," she said. "Again, it's up to the FIG. He made his principles very clear."

Although Grandi's letter says, "The true winner of the all-around competition is Yang Tae-young," the FIG president insisted he's not pressuring Hamm.

"There is no doubt he has won the medal," Grandi said. "He deserves the medal, and the ranking is clear. ... I respect totally Paul Hamm and all the decisions he makes. If he says give back the medal, I respect it. Don't give back the medal, I respect the decision. He is not responsible for anything."

Ueberroth said the USOC considers the case closed, based on the FIG ruling that the scores cannot be changed. He also cited a statement from Rogge, who said the IOC would stick with the results turned in by the federation and wouldn't step in unless there were clear signs of impropriety.

"We are not going to give medals for so-called humanitarian or emotional reasons," Rogge said.

Earlier in the week, the USOC said it was willing to consider supporting the South Koreans' bid for a second gold medal. Scherr said that was no longer possible because of FIG's latest request.

"I think we were at fault for not more strongly, more directly, showing our support for Paul," Scherr said. "I wish we would have done that more strongly and earlier."

USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi said the USOC stance reinforced the position his federation has held since the beginning.

"Paul Hamm won the all-around competition and he's the Olympic medalist and the Olympic champion," Colarossi said. "We mentioned from the very beginning that we stand by Paul and stand by Paul's performance."

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AoM
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Re: World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up
« Reply #1 on: Aug 27^th, 2004, 5:24pm »

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This makes me angry. Why should he have to give his medal up? Geez. Just give two and be done with it. I think it was quite rude for them to ASK that he give it up. They had no problem giving two in the winter Olympics when it was between the Canadian and the Russian figure Skaters!! Now all the sudden its a no no? Your judges screwed up...deal with it...don't make Paul suffer because you made a mistake!! Or that Korean either!! Give him another medal already!! Geez it would be over and done with and everyone would be happy!!

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Rupey
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Re: World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up
« Reply #2 on: Aug 27^th, 2004, 7:25pm »

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What wimps! To try to cover their own stupid mistakes in scoring by taking something away from an athlete who did his best to earn a gold medal.

I agree about just going ahead and giving the Korean gymnast a gold medal. Don't ask Paul to give up his!

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Rhune
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Re: World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up
« Reply #3 on: Aug 27^th, 2004, 7:26pm »

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The fair thing to do is to give them both a gold at this point.

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david
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Re: World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up
« Reply #4 on: Aug 27^th, 2004, 9:20pm »

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No it would not be fair heres why an error was made much like they are made all the time in sports and games are not given to other team! I feel for Korean who was robbed but it still it happened. Example Football playoffs couple years ago when bad call (admitted later) cost Raiders chance for Superbowl which Patriots won that year. I could name other cases as well its sad but "Bad Calls" happen and they had a chance to protest and did not! The only possible solution would be to give both a Gold. If other games (any sport at any time) cannot be changed this cant either. I again say it sad and yes unfair but they had a chance to protest and did not. Bad Calls happen and sometimes the outcome of event/game is changed because of this.

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luci
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Re: World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up
« Reply #5 on: Aug 28^th, 2004, 10:48am »

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The Olympics are supposed to be the best of the best, looks like they need judges who are the same Angry

Keep your well deserved medal, Paul Cool

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azure
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Re: World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up
« Reply #6 on: Aug 28^th, 2004, 4:24pm »

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I agree

not fair to the korean athlete, but award two medals then

not like Hamm was in charge of the numbers

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lakelady
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Re: World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up
« Reply #7 on: Aug 28^th, 2004, 4:41pm »

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No way I would give up my medal.

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luci
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Re: World Officials Ask Hamm to Give It Up
« Reply #8 on: Aug 29^th, 2004, 10:00am »

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The polls also say the same as we do! What's the big deal, the judge made a mistake and Paul is to pay for it? No way! Where do these judges come from, were they former gold medal athletes? Perhaps the credibility of the judges need to a lot better than they are! Remember the Canadian Ice Skating team, they were definitely better than the one who won! ....and was awarded a second Gold Medal and the judge left in disgrace. She should have been on a rail, like tar and feathers!

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