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COMMENTS:
Part of the problem of having a "sport" that is scored on opinion.
If I was Hamm, I'd go by the scores. If other teams dispute them: tough. The judges' scores are final. But if the judges themselves recalculated, I'd prove myself the sportsman and take Silver.
What is the question? To be lauded as incredibly Honourable and take a Silver vs taking a Gold forever tainted with suspicion? That's no choice.
Give me the Silver and my Honour any day.
This type of stuff has been going on forever in sports where an athlete wins by a miniscule amount. From what else I have read, they went back and looked at the Koreans performance on the other events that night. It turns out he made a mistake on the highbar and it wasn't deducited from his score. If it had been it turns out that he would have won the bronze instead. Does anyone here remember the boxing match in the Seoul Olympics? The South Korean won the gold when it was clear that the American should have won. It was found out at a later date that one of the judges had been bribed and the Korean guy got the gold. Should we insist the Korean boxer hand over the gold? Crap like this has always happened in the Olympics and it will continue. To much politcs and nationlism.
But there is the problem: The focus should not be on Forcing someone. It should be on the individual Doing the Right Thing.
Hamm should not be forced to concede the medal. But if the other's score is higher, he should be gracious and cede it, himself.
I can't believe anyone would sell their honour for a medal. It isn't even selfless altruism ... who cares about "another gold medal winner?" It's not like you're the only one. But ... the guy who gave up Gold for Honour?!? Now THAT would be something people took notice of!
I'm British?!?
Sooo ... all of the US except Michigan won independence back around 1776, eh? ;-)
I was born in Jackson, MI. Just picked up British spelling as a kid and often lapse back into it. Must have been my early interest in literature, as a kid.
Sad, though, when Honour is no longer thought to be a US value.
Yes, fair's fair, I would if I were him. He'll look like a sore loser if he doesn't. The judges that screwed up should give him some compensation along with the silver for the hassle they've caused him.
It would be a nice thing to do. Although it is not his fault. It is the judges fault for making bad judgment. It'd be good if he did but it wouldn't bother me if he kept it.
Though it would be a great show of sportsmanship and go a long way toward making the U.S. look better, he should KEEP the medal. Between this incident and the bit with Sale and Pelletier back in '02, the IOC needs to revamp its judging criteria.
They should cut the medal in half, and give one peace to Paul Hamm, and the other to his competitor.
Actually, the Korean who theoretically would have won did win the Bronze.
Hamm should keep the gold. Rules state that any objection needs to be made at that time. Not two days later. The problem is with the incompetent judging. As I mentioned above after review of the South Koreans performance on the other events it was clear he was not deducted for mistake he made on the high bar. He would have won the bronze in that case. We would not be sitting here and disputing whether or not Hamm should give back the gold.
Beyond the whole fiasco, I honestly don't think the Korean deserves the gold. I'm not a gymnast expert but he korean dude did seem more inconsistent and it just wasn't his day. In artistic sports, its a shame that now foreign politics has to get involved over medals. Its a whole matter of preference and extremely difficult to judge as I have met and know many figure skating judges. They make mistakes and miss to see some errors and times. Its only human. And judging for skating has changed completely since the Olympic scandal in 2002 for the future. Its only a matter of time when Gymnastics is going to get anonymous marks and points calculated specifically for each element. Its a pain in the ass, especially for tv viewers but its probably going to change after this.
by Ings on Sat Aug 28, 04 2:23pm
[+]
HELL NO! Nobody else has ever given back a medal for a scoring error, so why should he?
The rule in ALL sports is, once the game is over, the score can't be changed. All results are FINAL!
Voted : No
He should not be asked to give it up if he does not want to. The judges gave it to him fair and square. The mistake was theirs. Simply knowing he really didn't win it and that it doesn't signify anything is humiliation enough. But it is through sheer spite on his part that he is keeping it from the real winner. The real winner has the spirit of the gold, however. That is the most important thing.
Hamm has lost much more, however. He will always be looked upon as a childish sore loser and contemptuous person. He would have been looked upon as a man and a hero if he had given back the medal and accepted the one he really did win. Instead, he lost EXPONENTIALLY.
Since the other athlete really won the gold, why not just make another medal and present it to him?
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