What Should Happen With Paul Hamm's Erroneously Awarded Gold Medal?

[stopbush]

Poll question: What Should Happen With Paul Hamm's Erroneously Awarded Gold Medal?

In case you missed the controversy, the whole story is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/22/sports/olympics/22protest.html

Here's the basic story:
"The South Koreans did not file a protest during the event, so the scoring was not changed that night. Instead, they waited two days, lodging a complaint on Friday with federation officials (NB: The Times article fails to mention that the Koreans did, in fact, complain immediately but were told by the officials that they would need to file a written complaint the next day)..

"Those officials then reviewed a videotape of the event and noted that Yang's parallel bars routine should have received a start value of 10.0, a tenth of a point higher than the 9.9 it was given.

"With the extra 0.10, he would have finished with 57.874 points and defeated Hamm by 0.051."

[FATNED]

1. It would be an incredibly decent move...

if Hamm quietly and voluntarily offered his medal the the bronze winner, whether or not a protest is upheld. It seems the fair, honorable and American thing to do...at least I think fairplay is something our nation should aspire to, current administrations not withstanding. Hamm strikes me as a stand-up, heartland guy. I would rage with pride if he offered up his medal.

[stopbush]

4. I agree. But it wasn't his fault that the judges screwed up.

What happened really deprived viewers of an even greater match up, for Hamm would have been trailing significantly going into his last apparatus. The added pressure may have spurred him on to even greater heights...or maybe done him in.

BTW - I may have erred in my poll. I think that maybe Hamm would get the Silver, not the Bronze in Choice 3.

[Lancer]

5. Hamm would get silver

if things had gone right the first time.

Shared gold makes sense. This reminds me a lot of the pairs figure skating debacle in Salt Lake in '02. Shared gold seemed best way to resolve that dispute, IMO.

[Chovexani]

2. I think a shared gold would be fair

It's not Hamm's fault the judges messed up, and it would be really cruel to take his medal away. Even the Korean guy said he didn't want that to happen.

I think a shared gold would be fair.

[Awsi Dooger]

3. In one sense, an ironic payback for the Roy Jones travesty, Seoul '88

Easily the biggest robbery in sports history, when Jones battered Park Si-Hun for three rounds yet was a victim of a rigged 3-2 decision. Supposedly, a millionaire Korean businessman bribed officials and judges to fix that bout and others. That fight forever changed amateur scoring in boxing, to points-for-a-landed-punch and not subjective judging.

This gymnastics incident is unforgiveable and unfortunate, but I admittedly felt much less sympathy when it was a South Korean who was victimized, and his own officials apparently did not file sufficient complaints in time.

[Chovexani]

That's messed up

But I can't blame the athletes for that kind of thing.

It's a shame that the athletes always seem to be forgotten, or used as pawns by corrupt officials and various people.

[bubblesby2002]

6. The Olympic officials should do the right thing.....

and give the gold to the Korean and Hamm should receive the silver medal. It's true it wasn't Hamm's fault - however, he rightfully did not win the gold - did he? The Korean did and Hamm came second. Nuff said.

[JVS]

8. I agree

[JVS]

7. A fight to the death for olympic glory!

[alarimer]

9. nothing

The judging had been screwy- it is not Paul's fault. He is under no obligation to give it back. There was a problem with the high bar from the beginning. On the first day of team competition the judge for that apparatus told twon Americans that their routines would have a lower start value than they had thought. Those guys (not Paul Hamm) had to change their routines and it messed them up. Not enough for the US not to qualify for the team finals. The announcers did not say whether any other gymnasts were told the same thing about their routines. So something was wrong from the very beginning. Paul did a very good job; the other gymnasts (including the Koreans) had some mistakes that left the door open for him. In any sport dependent on judging, mistakes will be made. The judges will be dealt with accordingly.

[MrSlayer]

10. Hamm should keep his medal, it's not his fault.

But they should give the other dude one too. That's fair. Plus another guy gets to have a Bronze since there are two Golds. Cool for everyone.

[Blue-Jay]

11. Odd that they didn't follow the precident set in the Winter Olympics.

Remember the Canadian figure skating duo? They got robbed, and two golds were awarded, if I remember correctly.