Paul Hamm: Did He Deserve Gymnastics Gold In 2004?

By Author: Murray Hughes
Total Articles: 15
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What's the controversy all about?

In the 2004 Olympics, an all-star group of athletes from
around the world gathered together to compete for titles in
gymnastics. In the spirit of competition, there are always
tensions between analysts and spokespersons about whether
or not athletes deserve the medals they receive.
Sometimes, judges are found to be at fault for the
controversy, and other times the fiasco is trumped up by
uneducated speculation. In this case, the Paul Hamm stir
was due to an ancillary error.: the judges mistakenly set
his rival's starting score at 9.9 rather than 10.0. Many
believe that it is this error that cost Yang Tae Young, the
South Korean rival of Paul Hamm, the all-around gold medal
in gymnastics.

Gymnastics judging is not a science.

This is proven again and again. There is no mathematical
way of measuring gymnastics routines -- in fact, gymnastics
is perhaps one of the most subjective sports of all. No
goals are involved, as in soccer - no hoops like in
basketball; no bullseyes are involved, ...
... as in archery; one
does not go for distance or height, as in pole vaulting or
shot put. In gymnastics, an athlete is judged on form,
scored on perfection. It is exceedingly difficult to do so
accurately, as there are no vectors that can be calculated
to see if someone grasps hold of the parallel bars
incorrectly or lands with a wobble.

If you have ever been to a gymnastics competition, you
probably understand that panels look at execution for their
scoring: something that is full of twists and turns and is
poorly executed will score lower than something that is
simpler but perfectly executed. The criteria for measuring
this aspect of gymnastics include stability and landings --
whether or not he or she wavered in the element's terminus,
or held position for less than three seconds at the end of
the routine, or took an extra step or stumbled. This does
indeed lead to criticism of the judges' abilities to do
their job, and leads also to mistakes in scoring.

Why does Paul Hamm deserve gold?

Paul Hamm, like any other athlete, is and was not a part of
the politics of the game. He was there to compete, and
indeed, he was there to win. This is the goal of thousands
of Olympic hopefuls around the world -- to go to the games
and to show their skill at the sport they love best. In
all actuality, no athlete should have to deal with the
things Paul Hamm was forced through. It is entirely
understandable that he should refuse to give up his medal
-- the gold is certainly not tainted; it was his and his
alone. The mistakes of the judges are not his to bear. He
is an incredible gymnast, indeed.

Why does Yang Tae Young, his rival, not deserve gold?

Perhaps more convincing is the reason as to why Yang Tae
Young, Paul Hamm's Korean rival, does not deserve the gold
medal so many have attributed to him. Firstly, the Korean
gymnastics team's representative was late in calling in a
complaint, which made the investigation itself - and all
the stress associated with it - completely invalid (Olympic
rules state, that a protest needs to be made
before the end of any full game, such as with the parallel
bars, and the Koreans did not do so). Even then, the
judges were suspended, and the probing took place.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, even if the judges
gave Tae Young the extra .10 points warranted by the
difficulty of his routine, he still would have scored lower
than he did because of yet another ancillary error. After
the tapes were reviewed, it was revealed that Tae Young
accidentally made four holds on the bars rather than the
allotted three, which would have resulted in a deduction of
.2, still leaving him with a deficit of a tenth of a point.

The snafu regarding Paul Hamm's gold medal - versus, of
course, giving the medal up to the South Korean team - is
regretable. There should have been no question
that Hamm deserved his medal, and he certainly should not
have had to deal with the problems around the world. Nor,
indeed, did he deserve all of the ill press surrounding his
name. The gold medal was well-earned. It certainly bears
no tarnishing, and neither does his record.

By Murray Hughes
Gymnastics Secrets Revealed
The book EVERY gymnastics parent should read

http://www.gymnasticssecretsrevealed.com/gymnastics-articles/paul-hamm.htm
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