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Paul Hamm asked to give up gold medal
(CRIENGLISH.com)
Updated: 2004-08-29 14:57 World gymnastics officials
have asked Paul Hamm to give up his gold medal as the ultimate show of
sportsmanship, but the U.S. Olympic Committee told them to take responsibility
for their own mistakes and refused even to deliver the request, according to
CRIENGLISH.com.
In a dispute over scores that has turned into a political squabble, the head
of the International Gymnastics Federation suggested in a letter to Hamm that
giving the all-around gold medal to South Korea's Yang Tae-young "would be
recognized as the ultimate demonstration of fair play by the whole world."
The International Gymnastics Federation president Bruno Grandi tried to send
the letter to Hamm through the U.S. Olympic Committee, which declined to pass it
along.
Hamm returned to the United States earlier this week. He declined comment
through his agent, but he has said in the past that he has no intention of
giving up his medal unless ordered to do so by the International Gymnastics
Federation.
Yang, the bronze medalist, was wrongly docked a tenth of a point on his
parallel bars routine and finished third, 0.049 points behind Hamm. Add the
extra 0.100, and Yang would have finished 0.051 points ahead of Hamm.
Three judges were suspended after the error was discovered.
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