Sour Grapes?
According to this story on USAToday.com, The Korean gymnastics team has filed a complaint that the scoring in one of the events in the Men's All Around was unfair. Whether this would affect Paul Hamm's gold medal for the event is still unknown.
The complaint involves the bronze medal winner for his parallel bars routine. The rules stated that any disagreement should have taken place immediately after the event in question, not 2 days after the medals were awarded. But there's an investigation ongoing and results weren't expected until Saturday.
This sounds like a case of sour grapes to me. The Korean gymnast in question, Yang Tae-young, was just not as good as the two athletes who won the silver and gold medals. And that they would wait until after the medals were awarded sounds fishy to me. It seems me that scoring in these Olympics is decidedly un-American. Take the case of Aaron Peirsol, a US swimmer. A judge disqualified his gold medal, record breaking swim after a supposed illegal move. Peirsol protested and the findings were found to be bogus, so he won the gold medal after all.
The Olympics are supposed to be a series of athletic events, not a forum for differing political ideologies. Okay, maybe some countries are a little PO'd about our involvement in Iraq, but the Olympics is not the place to protest a country's policies. Olympic athletes have nothing whatsoever to do with the decisions their countries political leaders make, so they shouldn't take out their anger at Bush (or any other world leader) on these dedicated and talented athletes.
To those people who want to be "shit disturbers" at the Olympics: get over yourselves! Whatever problems you have with the USA or anyone else will still be there after the Games are over and done with. Don't take it out on the athletes!
Whatever the International Gymnastics Federation decides, they should leave the medals with those who won them initially. To change it to ease the so-called pain of one athlete who felt snubbed would be wrong. If there was a problem with the scoring, it should have been brought to someone's attention at the time, NOT after the medals have been awarded. Deal with it Yang!
And that my story and I'm sticking to it!
UPDATE 8/21/04 12:40pm CDT: The International Gymnastics Federation has decided that Paul Hamm will keep his gold medal in the Men's All Around, and not share it with cry-baby Korean Yang Tae-young. The Koreans are going to protest the decision, and insists that they raised their concerns at the time the error occured. A mistake was made, according to the Federation, but the Koreans didn't say anything to them until after the medals were awarded when they received a fax from the Korean team outlining their protest.
Three judges were suspended by the Federation, but declined to state which countries they were from.
Even if the scoring was discovered at the time, the gymnasts would have adjusted their strategies and performed according to the results going into the final event. The Koreans can't say that Yang would have won gold without all the other scores being adjusted as well.
UPDATE 8/27/04 1:45pm CDT: Those Koreans just don't give up! They've convinced the International Gymnastics Federation to ask Paul Hamm to give back his gold medal for the Men's All-Around so it can be awarded to the "real" winner Yang Tae-young. The USOC received a letter for Hamm from the Federation with that request, and the USOC is understandably pissed-off. They refused to send the letter along to Hamm, who has left Athens, but is aware of the letter. IOC chairman Jacques Rogge stated in an interview that the Federation did not consult with the IOC before sending the letter, and considers the matter closed. Hamm is the winner. Even the Federation stated that they would not change the scores because the Koreans didn't lodge their protest at the time of the infraction, but apparently has changed its position due to some kind of pressure by the Korean team.
Tank's Grrl's Opinion Alert: Paul Hamm should not have to give up the gold because the Koreans made a big stink out of this. After the medals were awarded is too late to have a hissy fit because of faulty scoring. If anything, the Federation should revamp its scoring system so that this kind of controversy does not happen in future Olympiads. Don't punish the athlete for the mistakes that someone one else (or a group of people, such as the judges) made. The judges should have had the good sense to say "we made a mistake and this is how we think it should be handled." The results are final. No duplicate gold, no taking the gold from the person who won it after the fact, no bending of the rules to assuage hurt feelings. The Koreans should just suck it up and deal with it. Your boy didn't win because of a scoring error and you didn't protest it as you should have at the time. If you are going to be mad at anyone, be mad at the stupid judges who cost Yang a gold medal, NOT the person who won it and was awarded it after the competition.
This is the last of this to appear here. If you have a beef with me about this, leave me a comment with your email address. If you're going to be brave and take me to task, be brave enough to leave a way for me to contact you if I choose.
Case closed.
--MorelaterZ--
The complaint involves the bronze medal winner for his parallel bars routine. The rules stated that any disagreement should have taken place immediately after the event in question, not 2 days after the medals were awarded. But there's an investigation ongoing and results weren't expected until Saturday.
This sounds like a case of sour grapes to me. The Korean gymnast in question, Yang Tae-young, was just not as good as the two athletes who won the silver and gold medals. And that they would wait until after the medals were awarded sounds fishy to me. It seems me that scoring in these Olympics is decidedly un-American. Take the case of Aaron Peirsol, a US swimmer. A judge disqualified his gold medal, record breaking swim after a supposed illegal move. Peirsol protested and the findings were found to be bogus, so he won the gold medal after all.
The Olympics are supposed to be a series of athletic events, not a forum for differing political ideologies. Okay, maybe some countries are a little PO'd about our involvement in Iraq, but the Olympics is not the place to protest a country's policies. Olympic athletes have nothing whatsoever to do with the decisions their countries political leaders make, so they shouldn't take out their anger at Bush (or any other world leader) on these dedicated and talented athletes.
To those people who want to be "shit disturbers" at the Olympics: get over yourselves! Whatever problems you have with the USA or anyone else will still be there after the Games are over and done with. Don't take it out on the athletes!
Whatever the International Gymnastics Federation decides, they should leave the medals with those who won them initially. To change it to ease the so-called pain of one athlete who felt snubbed would be wrong. If there was a problem with the scoring, it should have been brought to someone's attention at the time, NOT after the medals have been awarded. Deal with it Yang!
And that my story and I'm sticking to it!
UPDATE 8/21/04 12:40pm CDT: The International Gymnastics Federation has decided that Paul Hamm will keep his gold medal in the Men's All Around, and not share it with cry-baby Korean Yang Tae-young. The Koreans are going to protest the decision, and insists that they raised their concerns at the time the error occured. A mistake was made, according to the Federation, but the Koreans didn't say anything to them until after the medals were awarded when they received a fax from the Korean team outlining their protest.
Three judges were suspended by the Federation, but declined to state which countries they were from.
Even if the scoring was discovered at the time, the gymnasts would have adjusted their strategies and performed according to the results going into the final event. The Koreans can't say that Yang would have won gold without all the other scores being adjusted as well.
UPDATE 8/27/04 1:45pm CDT: Those Koreans just don't give up! They've convinced the International Gymnastics Federation to ask Paul Hamm to give back his gold medal for the Men's All-Around so it can be awarded to the "real" winner Yang Tae-young. The USOC received a letter for Hamm from the Federation with that request, and the USOC is understandably pissed-off. They refused to send the letter along to Hamm, who has left Athens, but is aware of the letter. IOC chairman Jacques Rogge stated in an interview that the Federation did not consult with the IOC before sending the letter, and considers the matter closed. Hamm is the winner. Even the Federation stated that they would not change the scores because the Koreans didn't lodge their protest at the time of the infraction, but apparently has changed its position due to some kind of pressure by the Korean team.
Tank's Grrl's Opinion Alert: Paul Hamm should not have to give up the gold because the Koreans made a big stink out of this. After the medals were awarded is too late to have a hissy fit because of faulty scoring. If anything, the Federation should revamp its scoring system so that this kind of controversy does not happen in future Olympiads. Don't punish the athlete for the mistakes that someone one else (or a group of people, such as the judges) made. The judges should have had the good sense to say "we made a mistake and this is how we think it should be handled." The results are final. No duplicate gold, no taking the gold from the person who won it after the fact, no bending of the rules to assuage hurt feelings. The Koreans should just suck it up and deal with it. Your boy didn't win because of a scoring error and you didn't protest it as you should have at the time. If you are going to be mad at anyone, be mad at the stupid judges who cost Yang a gold medal, NOT the person who won it and was awarded it after the competition.
This is the last of this to appear here. If you have a beef with me about this, leave me a comment with your email address. If you're going to be brave and take me to task, be brave enough to leave a way for me to contact you if I choose.
Case closed.
--MorelaterZ--
My name is Stef, and I approve this post. Posted @ 4:58 PM
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