This again? It's disgusting. I thought that a tape review of the Korean's performance showed where he should have had another 2-tenths deducted. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=4&u=/ap/20040827/ap_on_sp_ol/oly_tainted_gold
Inappropriate. If they think someone else was wronged, they could award another gold (that's been done before). If they think he shouldn't have it, they could require him to surrender it. Otherwise...they should STFU.
Since it was the FIG's fault, Hamm needs to tell them to stick their idea of him returning his medal where the sun doth not shine.
I don't remember seeing any articles about it either, but when watching part of the coverage (I think it was the high bar finals), when they were reviewing the earlier footage of the parallel bars, the analyst stated that the judges very easily could have deducted 2 tenths for a fourth "hold"...
It costs, what 10 cents to make these medallions, just give one to other dude. Who cares. The Medal means nothing. The experience everything. Irnoically, I had a similar experience in 6th grade. We had the neighborhood olympics with medals and everything. It basically goes like this. I thought the 200 yard race was too the firehydrant and everybody else thought the race was to the stop sign. I won, but stopped at the firehydrant. Everybody else continued on. They said I lost. So I fussed, packed my bags, and boycotted the remainder of the olympics. But I was stupid. Who cares. I know to this day I was faster. What did it matter.
I had a boring summer so one thing I did to pass the time was read up on gymnastics on the Internet. I've seen that statement made a lot; it was also shown on NBC's coverage a few nights ago. They proved that Yang had some deductions in his routine which the judges overlooked. This is not uncommon. There are lots of little things they're supposed to look for, but often they choose not to. So who is to say what would have happened. And how do they know how the changed scores would have affected the athletes' mindsets, and the remainder of the competition at that point? Other sports have had games decided by bad calls. Fans may gripe forever, but nobody even suggests reversing the result. According to the rules, the Koreans should have noticed and filed a protest in the allotted time period, which was long since over when they brought this up. So give a second gold to shut everybody up if you have to (though I think a dangerous precedent was set when they did that with the pairs skating in Salt Lake), but don't make him give his back. It is widely known that Hamm is a much better overall gymnast; Yang wasn't even on the radar. He got as far as he did because all the big guys had major falls and other freak mistakes. It's just horrible that a gold medal had to turn into such a bad experience for him; he has said that the worst part has been the USA gymnastics organization not standing by him. It is widely believed that Hamm made some political enemies when he chose not to participate in USA gymnastics' sanctioned post-olympic tour, and signed with another tour that was offering him a better deal.
JERRY: Elaine, only one other person in the world knows what I am about to tell you and that's George. When we were in the ninth grade they had us all line up at one end of the school yard for this big race to see who was going to represent the school in this track meet. ELAINE: Uh uh JERRY: I was the last one on the end. George was next to me. And Mr. Bevilacqua, the gym . . . ELAINE: What's that? JERRY: Mr. Bevilacqua, the gym teacher. ELAINE: Oh, of course. JERRY: He was down at the other end. So he yells out, "Ready, On your mark, Get set, " and I was so keyed up I just took off. By the time he said go I was ten yards ahead of everybody. ELAINE: No. GEORGE: I looked up. I couldn't believe it. JERRY: By the time the race was over I had won. I was shocked nobody had noticed the head start. ELAINE: Really? JERRY: And I had won by so much a myth began to grow about my speed. Only Duncan suspected something was a miss. He's hated me ever since. Now he's back. ELAINE: Well what happened when you raced him again? JERRY: I never did. In four years of high school I would never race anyone again. Not even to the end of the block to catch a bus. And so the legend grew. Everyone wanted me to race. They begged me. The track coach called my parents. Pleading. Telling them it was a sin to waste my god given talent. But I answered him in the same way I answered everyone. I choose not to run.
they should have a one-on-one face-off between Hamm and Yang, where the winner can say "you got served" to the loser.
No way should he even think about giving up the medal. They didn't give Roy Jones Jr. a gold medal after he got screwed by the Koreans in Seoul did they?
Maybe Hamm should just give back the medal and not accept another one to make a statement. I will never look at the Olympics the same way again after this BS until significant changes are made to improve the judging process to where this cannot happen again. The fact is the whole thing is tarnished now. The innocent victim here(Hamm) has been made out to look like the bad guy by FIG. If it's all about the experience, then screw the medal AND SCREW FIG. I would throw it back in their face. Maybe...maybe no.
Great post, Isabel. The part I quoted is very important because we see this happen all the time in other sports. Remember the 5th down that Colorado got against Missouri that helped them win the game and the NC? Or how about my beloved Canes getting robbed against Ohio State? Too bad the FIG wasn't in charge because they could have tried to change the results.
You guys are just plain ol homers. If it would of been Hamm who deserved the gold, and didnt get it over a miscalculation, then you guys would be all over the Korean to give it back as a sign of sportsmanship. And you guys would be all over the FIG for not making him. Its ok to be a homer for the STATES, but some of you guys come across as giant hypocrites
These are NOT the same situations. It would be the same if the Canes lost by 2 points but didnt have a field goal show up on the scoreboard for some reason, and the refs missed it. If that was the case, all hell would of busted loose.
This is why sports that are this subjective pretty much suck and onl get play every four years. I know judgements come into play in most sports but this whole thing seems completely subjective, you wanna make gymnastics not suck? Make it into a game of H-O-R-S-E, now that I might watch.
Fine.. give the guy his tenth on the starting value.. then take away the two-tenths for an extra hold on the parallel bars. I'm sure the guy in 4th place would love the bronze.
Honestly, I could care less. I don't know about others, but if that happened to Hamm, I wouldn't waste my time whining about it. I just think it is lame that FIG is asking him to give his medal up. And I am confused by your statement about "it being okay to be a homer for the US (gee that's swell of you to announce that to us) but that we come across as giant hypocrites?" Wouldn't it make more sense for you to say that it is NOT okay to be homers for the US, then we could (in your mind) be hypocrites? Seems like to me that being a homer for your own home country is going to make one biased and hard to be objective, whereas being neutral could open one up to criticism of hypocrisy. You obviously didn't watch that game. Try losing in 2 overtimes instead of 2 points. Also, did I mention that Miami had the game won as Ohio State had an incompletion on 4th down (down by 7), only to have it overturn by a (very late) flag from the officials? And hell did break loose, at least at my house and all over the country at other Cane fans' houses. Just ask keeley if you don't believe me.
