I have just read that Paul has been asked to give up his gold medal. I saw his performance and he was good but agree that he really shouldn't have been the one that got the gold medal because of the bad fall. BUT, it isn't his fault that the judges were generous on one aparatus compared to others, or that he did a perfect ending to his performance compared to the other competitors.
To ask him to give up his gold medal for something that wasn't his doing, or in his power, is just awful. They need to leave him alone and sort the federation out properly and not make the competitors the ones responsible for the mistakes of the marking! I feel this is now a worse situation that the skating at the winter olympics!
It is very harsh. He'll know deep down that he doesn't deserve the medal if the judges made a mistake. Congrats to him, but the other dude earned it.
So what would you do?
It's a tough decision.
I f he truly should not have been awarded the gold ,the medal is meaningless
It is forever tainted ,it may be worth something as far as the actual *gold goes * but as a sign of achievment it means nothing
Paul Hamms routine on the final two apparatus were flawless, he should tell the IOC or whoever that it's their mess and they sort it out. But the gold medal stay with me.
IMO, they should deduct points from all American competitors for bringing the games into disrepute for turning up in the first place.
I don't think he should have to give up his medal but I do think they should give the Korean a gold too, seeing as it was error on the judging side. The judging was a complete farce this Olympics.I really don't believe it was possible to go from 12th to gold, at best I thought he'd get bronze. His high bar routine wasn't flawless his legs were bent slightly for an upward swing & he hesitated shifting hand position at one point that I saw. Gymnastics used to be my sport for many years but I'm beginning to not enjoy it quite so much these days. The womens floor exercises ( blimey it's all run as fast as you can & do as many somersaults. Just pisses me off remembering how much of a nerd I used to feel attending ballet classes 3 times a week so I could aquire grace. Would've rather been out playing footie & cricket with the rest of the kids in the street.
Anyone else feel like clearing their throat when Hamn speaks. o
Just shows what a crock of sh** the whole farce has become really.
Sounds like sour grapes to me.
It's not like it's an exact science. You could clearly see that with the scores for the womens diving yesterday.
I really don't believe it was possible to go from 12th to gold, at best I thought he'd get bronze.
That's exactly what I was thinking! I could not for the life of me figure out how with only 2 events to go he could have won it. The guy landed on a judge after that awful vault. His competitors lost minor points and somehow he beat them? Yes he final two events were brilliant, but somebody needs to explain to me how anyone who totally screwed up on one event can still win.
Paul Hamms routine on the final two apparatus were flawless, he should tell the IOC or whoever that it's their mess and they sort it out. But the gold medal stay with me.
There's two levels of flawless. There's Paul Hamm's easy flawless, and the other guys much harder flawless. :)
Give the damn medal back you thief.
Regards
Nigel
Ok.. if we want to nitpick here
in the parallel bars you are only allowed THREE stops. Three times that you can stand completely still in your routine, the Korean had FOUR, that is automatically a .1 deduction. He would not have won anyhow had they went back and rescored things.
So wait Nigel, he is a damn thief because he was judged and given the medal by a group of people who are trained to judge such competetions?
That is delusional of you at best to say that. I'm actually appalled that you are calling him a thief.
Once again, not his fault. IMO, I think he should have offered to share the podium with the Korean or something but he is not obliged nor required to give up that medal. I'd say the same thing if he were Nigerian or Ukranian. Point blank. Don't blame the player, blame the game.
I heard that argument on Radio 5 Live, and the British gymnastics judge then replied something like "in that case, looking back at Hamm's terrible vault, I think you could easily deduct a full point. Quite how he scored so high I'll never know."
I don't necessarily ascribe to that, but this looks like an endless spiral to me if we go back and rejudge it all. You'd have to look at all the events again using the same criteria. Which seems mental. But then is sport so you don't have to. Judges, officals, and refs make mistakes in sport. That's what makes it good. But if a judge doesn't actually follow a rule, say like deciding that a football has to hit the back of the net to be a goal instead of just crossing the line, then that doesn't seem the same to me. Which means the Korean dude deserves more points. Then it means he deserves less. Which makes my brain hurt.
agreed, mr.b. You are 100% correct.
My point was just that it's done and over, and noone did anything deceptive in their judging to our knowlege, maybe it is questionable but nothing like what happened at the Winter Olypmics.
Hamm was GIVEN the medal. He did not steal it and run like Shooter McGavin did with the green jacket in Happy Gilmore.
That would have been excellent tho - Hamm charging across the gymnastics floor elbowing Carly Patterson in the face as she tries to tackle him.