It really irks me that Paul Hamm has not had the balls and grit to give up what many would argue isn't even his. Of course there are some very convincing arguments that he should be allowed to keep the medal because of a technicality, but what good does that do. The medal is still tainted because of some judges who screwed up, and Hamm should know he didn't really deserve it. I feel he should stand up and do whats right and give the medal to the Korean. Then the olympic commitee would be forced to give out a second gold. If things stand as they do now, then America's keeping of the medal only reinforces a lot of the rest of the worlds opinion that we are stuck up and above whats right. What do you guys think?

How much is fair criticism, how much is sour grapes?

Medal Count.

<font face="Verdana" size="3" color="#00FF00">How can you accidently switch scores? Have they already judged before seeing the performance.</font>

[ 08-23-2004, 05:09 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

What's the story on this? Can you post a link about what happened?

Welcome to the Works greatdivide [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]

I haven't heard that the judges screwed up or they tried to reverse their original decision, but honestly it should just be left up to them. I've seen some of the stunts people have to do in gymnastics, and if he was able to pull off what he did, make that big of a comeback, then let him keep the medal. Korea is pissed off, yeah, but people win and people lose, just how it goes. Not saying this because I am American, anyone that is able to win by that close a margin deserves the medal.

Btw, America could find the cure for Cancer and every known disease known to the world, but everyone will still hate us [img]tongue.gif[/img]

That's because NBC's Olympics coverage forgets that there are non-American athletes in the Games. ;)

This is ridiculous. If Paul Hamm gives back his medal, then they should review every performance on every apparatus and re-order the entire standings. It sucks, but human error is part of scoring in gymnastics. I guess The South Korean coaches should have been paying closer attention to the starting value at the time of the event and not waited until the medals were awarded.

That's because NBC's Olympics coverage forgets that there are non-American athletes in the Games. ;) </font>[/QUOTE]Well, think about it. In your home country, are you most likely going to talk about everyone else or your own athletes? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

That's because NBC's Olympics coverage forgets that there are non-American athletes in the Games. ;) </font>[/QUOTE]Well, think about it. In your home country, are you most likely going to talk about everyone else or your own athletes? [img]tongue.gif[/img] </font>[/QUOTE]But our athletes aren't winning many medals, so by default we have to talk about other peoples' athletes. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Seriously, though, watching Canadian coverage and then watching NBC... there's a huge difference (besides the whole different countries thing). NBC does seem to regard every medal as a national triumph, rather than an individual or team accomplishment.

Every routine has a maximum point value, called a starting value. Deductions are taken from that value. The Korean's routine was the same one he did during the preliminaries. At that time, it was given a 10.0 starting value. At the finals, it was (incorrectly) given a 9.9 starting value. Had it been given the correct starting value, he would have finished gold, and not silver.

Unfortunately, a mistake was made. And just as unfortunately, there are a number of people pointing fingers on all sides about who made a mistake, who should correct it, who's right, and who's wrong.

I've heard comments from Hamm, and frankly, he should put a cork in it. He's coming off like a whiny baby in his responses.

I haven't heard specific comments from anyone else, but it looks a whole lot like a witch hunt to find someone to blame.

There's a fine line between individual achievement and national pride. They cross over at this time...