Gymnastics Update: Hamm Keeps The Gold Despite Judging Error -- Khorkina Makes Troubling Statement

By Johnny Legs
USAALLTHEWAY Staff Writer
Saturday August 21, 2004

Well, it appears South Korea's Yang Tae-young was the proper Gold Medal winner, but the International Gymnastics Federation has decided to allow Paul Hamm to keep his Gold. They are currently decided whether they should award Yang Tae-young with a Gold of his own. This debacle has many of South Korea's Olympic officials extremely upset.

In other news... Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina was caught on record saying, "If the judges were Greek, I would have had no difficulty winning the Gold Medal. They are the ones who are going to have to live with their conscience."

Put that in you pipe and smoke it!!!!!

Comments

[Murray Hughes]

It has been a turbulent few weeks for International gymnastics. As long as the judging remains subjective their will always be controversy.

Yet I don't think Hamm should return his gold. I believe we create our own lives through belief as much as action. For me I see that Hamm believed in his capability to achieve gold so much, he still did so despite not being the most skilled on the day.

Additionally, it is not the responsibilty of the athletes to put right the mistakes of the judges....they are athletes not beaurocrats.

I do think, however, that Yang should be awarded a gold. The moment it became apparent Hamm won due to an error, Yang should have been immediately awarded another gold. I think it is bordering on disgraceful that it hasn't happened yet.

While the Olympics operates on necessary beaurocracy, it is the athletes that make it a spectactle of such proportions that the world change their daily habits for 2 weeks so they can get to see the best there is perform. But the athletes don't get off the couch and win a medal, they devote the better part of their young lives to get there.

To win a gold but not receive it because of the mistake of a few ancillary staff is a tragedy from which I have my doubts any athlete could ever recover.

Murray Hughes
http://www.gymnasticssecretsrevealed.com/gymnastic/sitemap.html

[me]

what the heck did khorkina mean by that? that is really weird!

[P. Knudsen]

Quit the whining, Monday morning quarterbacking and be a sport. The event was the Olympics not a sole International Gymnastic Federation event. As a high school and college wrestler and basketball player, sportsmanship is accepting the decision of the referees. We call such conduct “quibbling” and “whining” in Army training (whether airborne, ranger or OCS), we don’t tolerate it and bottom line quibbling and whining is dishonorable and disrespectful conduct.

This is a dispute about judging and scoring. Short and simple. Point made. There was no bribery or fraud involved as there was with the French judges (go figure!) with figure skating in the 2000 Olympics.

The International Gymnastic Federation was downright WRONG (as John Kerry would ) say when it had the audacity (circa 28 August) to ask Paul Hamm to voluntarily surrender his gold medal for the all around event. I too share my United State’s Olympic Committee’s expressed outrage at your brazen, mistaken audacity. Mr. Grandi’s assertion that if Hamm were to voluntarily surrender his rightly AWARDED Gold medal would be “. . .recognized as the ultimate demonstration of fair play by the whole world" is preposterous and absolutely illogical! How dare Mr. Grandi presume to speak for “the whole world!” Mr. Grandi’s conduct is arrogant and (erroneously) self righteous.

So the IGF and MR. Grandi think there was a “scoring error?” Haven’t both the IGF and you Mr. Gallagher heard about “accepting the refs call?”

Frankly, both the IGF and you need to not only “shut up” but ultimately apologize to Paul Hamm.