Paul Hamm

[Booher]

Originally posted by jamjeehunta
The gold is his, no doubt and there is nothing the comitee is willing to do or can do. However, the commitee came to the conclusion that the s. korean should have won the gold, and that a grave mistake was made by the judges. I am not saying that the IOC should strip his medal nor award dual medals, but hamm should have really thought this one out.

that being said, if you were in some sort of individual competition and it was clear to the world that you won by error and didn't deserve it, wouldn't you voluntarily forfeit the medal/trophy? wouldnt you feel cheated taking home something you don't deserve? any man who selfishly retains possesion of something he is undeserving of is comparable to a baby. THis act shows an extreme lack of honesty, lack of pride, and lack of honor and if we as americans embrace this then there is something terribly wrong with society...

i really think that if the situation was reversed and it was hamm or any other american on the short end of the stick many opinions would be different.

oh and plummerchick, to answer your questions, yes and yes.

I disagree. actually the commitees decision was gutless one seems to me as they are attempting to pass the blaim on hamm when IT WAS THEIR ERROR and hell they could not even deliver the letter to hamm they had to send it to a middle man. Who is to say if hamm knew he needed a tenth more of a point that he would not have done a different routine to assure that?

[mattos]

Originally posted by Broncs Bomber
Jamjeehunta & mattos, I must respectfully disagree with both of you. The appeal did not come after the actual event, it came after the entire floor exercise event was over. I liken it to this scenario:

Picture with 4 minutes left in a football game, the referees rule that Isaac Bruce was out of bounds on a play in the end zone. The Rams do not challenge, and end up kicking a field goal to take the lead 22-20. At that point, the Seahawks know that all the have to do is get into field-goal range to win the game.

Seattle takes the kickoff, drives to the Rams 30 and kick a field-goal to win the game. Then, after the game, the Rams cry foul, and the replays show that Bruce did get both feet down and it should have been a TD.

Had the Rams challenged their questionable touchdown right after it happened and the call was reversed, Seattle would then have KNOWN they needed a TD to win. Paul Hamm played it safe in his last routine, knowing that as long as he didn't falter, he would win. He did what he had to do, and THEN the S. Koreans decided to appeal. At that point it is too late because Hamm approached his routine knowing what the scores were, and what he had to do to win. He did what he had to do, therefore the gold is his.

i think i'm basically agreeing with what jamjeehunta just said.

the difference i see between hamm's case and your scenario is that the mistake is much more severe than a missed call. the korean isn't arguing that he should have been awarded more points b/c he was more graceful or something like that, he's arguing that the points he got should be added correctly (with the right start value i mean). i see it as being more like this: suppose the rams had scored a TD but the scoreboard screwed up and just gave them 3 points. even if they don't notice this until after the game, don't you think the seahawks should say "yeah they won."?

i also agree that the IOC is being a bunch of losers and trying to pass the responsibility to hamm here. they should stick by the decision they make. i also agree that hamm doesn't have to give up the gold since that is what the IOC decided. BUT if it were me, i would have given it up immediately b/c everyone knows (no matter what the IOC rules are and whether he technically can keep the medal) that he got the 2nd highest point total in reality. that's what i think he should do as well. instead he's looking like a sore loser.

plummerchick: this is nothing like the patterson case, b/c that complaint is only about subjective judging. the korean's complaint involves a clear mathematical scoring error.

[frenchfan]

Anyway, I think there is no more "Olympic" spirit in sports... It's all about money and win by all the means...
The best victory for anyone is doing his best... No regrets... Sometimes, someone else is better and you have to accept this...
I think Hamm would say he's second (which is very good BTW) and give back the gold... Now, IOC has to take his responsability too...

Is anyone seen what happened during marathon ? What do you think about that ?
For my part, I think it's disgusting... If I was the Bralisian guy, I would killed this s*cker... It's a shame and it's sad because all of the Olympics were great... Too bad..