AggieJohn
10-22-2004, 06:15 PM
No one could blame Paul Hamm if he'd been bitter.
He won the men's gymnastics all-around at the Athens Olympics with one of the most spectacular comebacks in the sport's history, rallying from 12th place with only two events left. But he'd barely taken the olive wreath off his head when someone else laid claim to the gold medal, arguing it would have been his if not for a scoring error.
Instead of reveling in his accomplishment, Hamm was forced to defend it. Some said he should give the medal back. Others asked if his victory would be tarnished.
And then there were the hundreds of people who told Hamm he was an inspiration, who said how much they admired his perseverance and determination. That, not the tussle over the gold that took him from the gym to the courtroom, is what Hamm will take from these two months of chaos now that they're finally over.
``A lot of people I ran into, what they remember is the amazing comeback I made. They were jumping around their living rooms, screaming,'' he said. ``That's probably what I'll remember for the rest of my life, as well.''
The Court of Arbitration finally put an end to Hamm's Olympic odyssey Thursday, declaring him the rightful champion in the all-around and rejecting an appeal from Yang Tae-young of South Korea. The verdict of the three-judge panel is final and cannot be appealed.
Yang had asked the court to order international gymnastics officials to change the results and adjust the medal rankings accordingly, giving him the gold and Hamm the silver. But the CAS panel refused, saying it was not in a position to change decisions from the field of play.
ADVERTISEMENT
``The solution for error, either way, lies within the framework of the sport's own rules'' and does not allow for a judge or arbitrator to step in later, the panel said. ``An error identified with the benefit of hindsight, whether admitted or not, cannot be a ground for reversing a result of a competition.''
CAS added that it was impossible to say what the outcome would have been had Yang been scored correctly. CAS also found the Koreans submitted their protest to the International Gymnastics Federation too late.
The decision leaves Hamm with his gold and Yang with bronze. Kim Dae-eun of South Korea will keep the silver.
``The decision from CAS confirms what I've always felt in my heart, which is that I was the champion that night and the Olympic gold medalist. I competed my heart out,'' Hamm said. ``I'll put this behind me and move on.''
So will Yang.
``I hoped for a good decision, but I also didn't rule out a decision not in favor of me,'' he said. ``I don't want to think about it any more. ... I will perform better in the future so that such an error won't happen again. I won't stop here.''
Neither will Hamm. Only 22, he has a long career still ahead of him, and he's already looking forward to his next meet.
``(The controversy) hasn't really soured my outlook on gymnastics, I love the sport,'' he said. ``Maybe it's soured my outlook a little bit on the FIG and how they handled the matter.''
(AP)
View Photo
Gallery | Slideshow
With good reason. CAS found that FIG mishandled the saga in three different ways ``albeit we are certain in entire good faith.''
Two days after Hamm won gold, FIG announced that Yang had been wrongly docked a tenth of a point on his second-to-last routine, the parallel bars. Yang finished third, 0.049 points behind Hamm.
The extra 0.100 would have put Yang on top, 0.051 points ahead of the American. But that assumes everything in the final rotation played out the same way -- something no one can say with any certainty.
FIG suspended three judges but said repeatedly it would not change the results because the South Koreans didn't protest until after the meet. Undeterred, the South Koreans approached both the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee in hopes of getting Yang a gold medal.
It brought back memories of the figure skating scandal at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, when Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were given duplicate gold medals after a French judge said she had been ``pressured'' to put a Russian couple ahead of them. There were no signs of impropriety in this case, and IOC president Jacques Rogge flatly refused to even consider a second gold medal.
But then FIG president Bruno Grandi wrote Hamm a letter and asked him to surrender the gold medal voluntarily. ``The true winner of the all-around competition is Yang Tae-young,'' Grandi wrote.
Buoyed by that statement, Yang filed an appeal with CAS on the final day of the games.
Though Hamm said he thought about all of the possibilities -- even whether he should give the medal back -- he felt in his heart he'd won it fairly.
``From the very beginning, I didn't really feel I wanted a duplicate medal,'' he said. ``I felt the medals should stay the way they were.''
And he shouldn't be criticized for that, the CAS panel said.
``He was not responsible for the judges' error,'' the arbitrators said. ``And, as we have already observed, he can be no more certain than we as to what the outcome would have been had the judges not made the mistake.''
Yang is also a victim in this debacle, CAS said.
``I definitely feel sympathetic toward Yang,'' Hamm said. ``I can understand this is a difficult situation for him. I look forward to competing with him in the future, and hopefully this matter will never happen again.''
He won the men's gymnastics all-around at the Athens Olympics with one of the most spectacular comebacks in the sport's history, rallying from 12th place with only two events left. But he'd barely taken the olive wreath off his head when someone else laid claim to the gold medal, arguing it would have been his if not for a scoring error.
Instead of reveling in his accomplishment, Hamm was forced to defend it. Some said he should give the medal back. Others asked if his victory would be tarnished.
And then there were the hundreds of people who told Hamm he was an inspiration, who said how much they admired his perseverance and determination. That, not the tussle over the gold that took him from the gym to the courtroom, is what Hamm will take from these two months of chaos now that they're finally over.
``A lot of people I ran into, what they remember is the amazing comeback I made. They were jumping around their living rooms, screaming,'' he said. ``That's probably what I'll remember for the rest of my life, as well.''
The Court of Arbitration finally put an end to Hamm's Olympic odyssey Thursday, declaring him the rightful champion in the all-around and rejecting an appeal from Yang Tae-young of South Korea. The verdict of the three-judge panel is final and cannot be appealed.
Yang had asked the court to order international gymnastics officials to change the results and adjust the medal rankings accordingly, giving him the gold and Hamm the silver. But the CAS panel refused, saying it was not in a position to change decisions from the field of play.
ADVERTISEMENT
``The solution for error, either way, lies within the framework of the sport's own rules'' and does not allow for a judge or arbitrator to step in later, the panel said. ``An error identified with the benefit of hindsight, whether admitted or not, cannot be a ground for reversing a result of a competition.''
CAS added that it was impossible to say what the outcome would have been had Yang been scored correctly. CAS also found the Koreans submitted their protest to the International Gymnastics Federation too late.
The decision leaves Hamm with his gold and Yang with bronze. Kim Dae-eun of South Korea will keep the silver.
``The decision from CAS confirms what I've always felt in my heart, which is that I was the champion that night and the Olympic gold medalist. I competed my heart out,'' Hamm said. ``I'll put this behind me and move on.''
So will Yang.
``I hoped for a good decision, but I also didn't rule out a decision not in favor of me,'' he said. ``I don't want to think about it any more. ... I will perform better in the future so that such an error won't happen again. I won't stop here.''
Neither will Hamm. Only 22, he has a long career still ahead of him, and he's already looking forward to his next meet.
``(The controversy) hasn't really soured my outlook on gymnastics, I love the sport,'' he said. ``Maybe it's soured my outlook a little bit on the FIG and how they handled the matter.''
(AP)
View Photo
Gallery | Slideshow
With good reason. CAS found that FIG mishandled the saga in three different ways ``albeit we are certain in entire good faith.''
Two days after Hamm won gold, FIG announced that Yang had been wrongly docked a tenth of a point on his second-to-last routine, the parallel bars. Yang finished third, 0.049 points behind Hamm.
The extra 0.100 would have put Yang on top, 0.051 points ahead of the American. But that assumes everything in the final rotation played out the same way -- something no one can say with any certainty.
FIG suspended three judges but said repeatedly it would not change the results because the South Koreans didn't protest until after the meet. Undeterred, the South Koreans approached both the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee in hopes of getting Yang a gold medal.
It brought back memories of the figure skating scandal at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, when Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were given duplicate gold medals after a French judge said she had been ``pressured'' to put a Russian couple ahead of them. There were no signs of impropriety in this case, and IOC president Jacques Rogge flatly refused to even consider a second gold medal.
But then FIG president Bruno Grandi wrote Hamm a letter and asked him to surrender the gold medal voluntarily. ``The true winner of the all-around competition is Yang Tae-young,'' Grandi wrote.
Buoyed by that statement, Yang filed an appeal with CAS on the final day of the games.
Though Hamm said he thought about all of the possibilities -- even whether he should give the medal back -- he felt in his heart he'd won it fairly.
``From the very beginning, I didn't really feel I wanted a duplicate medal,'' he said. ``I felt the medals should stay the way they were.''
And he shouldn't be criticized for that, the CAS panel said.
``He was not responsible for the judges' error,'' the arbitrators said. ``And, as we have already observed, he can be no more certain than we as to what the outcome would have been had the judges not made the mistake.''
Yang is also a victim in this debacle, CAS said.
``I definitely feel sympathetic toward Yang,'' Hamm said. ``I can understand this is a difficult situation for him. I look forward to competing with him in the future, and hopefully this matter will never happen again.''