Paul Hamm
 

The gymnastics federation asked Paul hamm to return the Gold medal ....


what do you think should happen?

It is not Paul Hamm's fault that the judges erred in their scoring.

Therefore, he should not be obligated to return the Gold Medal they rightfully awarded him.

If the FIG wants to redeem themselves, they should issue a duplicate medal to the South Korean who would have had the most points.

No need to penalize Paul Hamm for anything he didn't do!

Exactly. At least the ice skating international organization 'fessed up and fixed its mistake. FIG is acting like an angry exboyfriend.

Isn't that what happened in the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake with ice skating couples? Because there was an error duplicate medals were awarded.

Hamm should have the only gold medal, period. If scored correctly the So. Korean actually would have been a tenth lower in scoring than he was.

Plus 1 tenth for the starting value.
Minus 2 tenths for 4 holds instead of 3.

and no, I'm not gay.:D

Yes, but since every sport has a different international governing organization, every sport deals with such mistakes differently.

I am so so glad that the USOC is doing everything they can to ensure that Hamm keeps his medal.

After reading this morning's article, I thought Peter Uebberoth's statement subtley told the FIG "Hey screw you and back off, we're not going to deliver your damn message."

Basically the FIG's to blame and they're having a hard time trying to clean up their shit. Everything they're doing seems to be pissing off people even more. And hooray for the IOC for not issuing duplicate medals!

Can you imagine Olympics of the future and countries demanding duplicate medals?

Exactly right, I feel sorry for him now that everybody thinks he didn't deserve it.

I think it's sort of hypocritical because FIG rules state that the error in starting value should be brought to the officials' attention after the event in question...not a day or two later.

Cosign. With attitude.

Wherein lies part of the problem. As I understand it, the Korean staff came to the officials immediately, and were told to come back later. Later to them was a couple of days.

Too late.

However, the real point is that no sport changes scores, winners, etc. after the fact.

The idea of the FIG trying to get Hamm to do its dirty work and penalize himself in the action is ludicrous. If they can't govern their sport, they should step aside and let someone else run it.

Hamm should keep his medal proudly. If the FIG wants to award another one, that's their business.

Dr. Jacques Rogge, the president of the IOC, basically told the FIG (diplomaticallly, of course) to take a flying f*ck at a rolling donut.

Originally, the USOC was amenable to the issuing of a second gold medal for the South Korean, but when the FIG insisted on Hamm returning his medal 'in the interest of fair play' (cough-bullsh*t-cough) that idea was swiftly thrown into the trashcan.

BTW, it's the IOC that issues the medals; the FIG administers and judges the sport in the Games. So the IOC was in the right anyway.

That's why I never understood why the FIG is still bitching and moaning. No matter what they do or say they have no control of the medals anyway!

My feelings exactly.

As someone pointed out on another board where this was discussed, did anyone else notice that the other South Korean gymnast is basically getting a free pass in all this? Shouldn't he, then, return the silver because he really didn't earn that, and take the bronze? I haven't heard anyone talk about that.

A bunch of jealous little pricks is what they are. This isn't a sport where you are allowed to go back and watch the event for scoring and corrections. If that were the case the Korean would have lost even more points. Evidently they don't want to consider that though.

I think it's fair to say that our country is standing behind Hamm on whatever he feels is right on this.

-Rudey