In the men's all-around competition at the Athens Olympics, Paul Hamm became the first American man to win gold. After the meet, however, bronze medalist Yang Tae-Young claimed a judging error on his parallel bars routine had unfairly docked him .1 of a point, enough to make the difference between bronze and gold.
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) agreed with Yang and suspended the judges responsible, but said because he had not protested his score immediately after it was posted, they could not change the results. (It is standard protocol in gymnastics that inquiries of scores are allowed, but only during the event and not after.) Eventually, the case was brought to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who ruled that Hamm would keep the gold medal.
Watch It:
Paul Hamm talks about the controversy on David Letterman
Poll: How should this gold medal debate have been resolved?
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) agreed with Yang and suspended the judges responsible, but said because he had not protested his score immediately after it was posted, they could not change the results. (It is standard protocol in gymnastics that inquiries of scores are allowed, but only during the event and not after.) Eventually, the case was brought to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who ruled that Hamm would keep the gold medal.
Watch It:
Paul Hamm talks about the controversy on David Letterman
Poll: How should this gold medal debate have been resolved?
- Paul Hamm named as the only winner. The results should not be changed after the fact.
- Yang Tae-Young gets the gold. He was unfairly deducted and it should be fixed.
- A shared gold between the two -- it's most fair to both athletes.
