I know this is out of the area for posts here, but thought people here may be interested.

It is reported Paul Hamm may give up his Gold medal on the advise of the Kerry-Edwards committee. This is being done to promote international harmony, and to make the UN feel better. This move is also strongly supported by the French, Germans and Russians as their teams did not fare so well in these Olympics. God Save the Secetary General!

While this might be a nice gesture, it is not warranted. The judges of the event screwed up in more ways than one. When the Korean guy's routine was analysed, he took five four pauses during the parallel bars routine. You are only permitted three by the rules and a fourth pause should result in a mandatory deduction of two-tenths of a point. The judges skipped over this one. The results would have been the same had they not missed this one and had they started with the right score on the other one, so if I were Paul Hamm, I would tell the gymnastics federation to shove it. If all sports were adjudicated like the federation would like to adjudicate this one, you would never have a final result of any competition, including football games. Judging errors are part of the game. You don't go back and take a medal away from the guy who won when the competition was concluded. JMHO

With all the endorsements Paul Hamm is about to get, he could go on one heck of a hunt in Africa.! Gold medal ot not.

Paul Hamm is well within his rights to keep the medal. He won it fair and square, but the magnitude of the sportsman like gesture of presenting the Korean with the medal would have multiplied his endorsements 10 fold. Especially if it came out later that he would have still won the Gold based on the 5 vs. 4 releases that was pointed out. What would the Koreans have done then?

IMHO, Paul Hamm passed up an opportunity of a lifetime. This is very easy for me to say because I haven't spent my life in pursuit of a Gold Medal and then give it up under circumstances such as these. If I were in his shoes it would be a much more difficult decision unless I had the foresight to see how much more the prize would have been by hanging the medal around the neck of the Korean.

Paul Hamm would have been the only one remembered from this Olympics a 100 years from now.

More remembered than Phelps giving up a spot on the relay so that another could get a medal? That ranks up there quite a ways in my book.

It's a moot point because Phelps gave up his position and Hamm kept the medal. Time would tell, but it would have had more "sizzle" to see Hamm hang the medal on the Korean's neck than giving up a spot on the relay. Phelps action didn't have any "ceremony" to it.

I know that comment comes out like I am trying to take something away from Phelps and that is not what I am trying to do. But Phelps made the gesture and Hamm did not. So Phelps has the upper hand in my book, also.

Paul Hamm did nothing wrong, so why does he have to be the one to fix this? Once again the world looks to America to straighten out someone elses mistake. What do you think Korea would have done if this situation was reversed? Olympic judging has been a farse for years. How many times were our Divers cheated out of a medal because of a "fixed" E. German judge, or our female track team members beat by those doped up shemales from the Eastern Block?

If I were Paul, this would be easy to fix. I would bend over and tell the I.O.C. and the gymnastics federation to kiss my white American A$$!! Not on the left side, not on the right side, but right down the middle!! A perfect 10!!

BOWHUNR

I don't see why the Oly committee cannot give the Korean a gold medal too. What's the harm of it? They are making Hamm out to be a villain when the Oly committee could easily fix its own mistake.

Mr. Hamm sacrificed and worked for years to win that medal. He should give up the medal as soon as every one on the IOC does an "iron cross" on the rings.
JCN

Paul Hamm won the gold medal, get over it.

Umpires, referees, and judges all make judgements based in real time. Their decisions are final (except the NFL). How may times has an umpire called a ball a strike? What about the strike zone, it is different for each ump. Has it determined the outcome of the game? No doubt. In diving there are 8 judges, how many times do they score each dive the same? How many times has a Tennis Match been determined by a line call which the Slow Motion Camera showed to be incorrect? Was the outcome changed, don't think so. How many "non calls" effect the outcome of a basketball game? No one agrees with a close Boxing decision.

Unless the results are determined by a clock, judgements, good and bad, determine the outcome.

500,

The I.O.C. should NEVER award a second gold medal!! The whole basis of the Olympics is to find the top three athletes in their event. If we start giving out multiple gold medals, what is the point of competing? It is no different than some of our sorry a$$ school systems that have outlawed dodge ball. They are affraid that some kids feelings will be hurt. Wake up people, teach your kids to be strong and kick some a$$.

BOWHUNR

If they really want to honor the rules, now after close scrutiny the korean competitor held a position on parallel bars four times when the limit is three, and that deduction alone would have put him below Paul. It just get's absurd. If they want perfect scoring they would need to videotape it all and publish the results several months later and even then there would be the same bullshit. He won the gold medal and that's it.