PAUL HAMM CLUTCH PERFORMER... DESERVES THE GOLD
Messed Up Korean Gymnasts... Poor Sportsmanship

After stumbling on the vault, U.S. gymnast, Paul Hamm, delivered a clutch performance on the high bar. Did you see it? He was great. You're a stud, Paul.

With mixed emotions I watched two Korean gymnast win the silver and bronze medals. I was happy for my motherland, but disappointed in their response. They seem to think that Paul Hamm did not deserve the gold medal. My brother told me that one of them stated this and mentioned something about the judges. Sore losers, but not surprising. Koreans really don't learn about sportsmanship and the culture sometimes breeds an attitude that doesn't allow people to compliment others on their success.

Even in the language there is a phrase "my stomach hurts" to state a feeling of jealousy when some good fortune, such as a job promotion or windfall of money, befalls another person. Oddly enough the other person is typically a colleague or friend, which I found initially incomprehensible and disappointing. Why would they feel bad about their friend's good fortune? Some of the people I knew would be bitter or upset in these situations, which was counter to the responses my friends in the U.S. typically had when good things happened to their friends or colleagues. There would be genuine feelings of happiness or joy for the other person. As an American of Korean descent, it was disturbing to learn about some of the negative elements of Korean society while I lived there and to see it in my daily life.

The responses of these Korean gymnasts were not surprising after my recent four years in Korea, but still disappointing none the less. Korea really needs to develop its sports culture, especially for its youth, and teach the basic elements of sportsmanship, which can be transferred into adulthood and everyday life.

Two Koreans, Dae Eun Kim and Tae Young Yang, looked like the best man who lost the engagement ring. Kim frowned as his silver was placed around his neck. Yang took off his bronze right after leaving the floor. Both blew past Korean press begging for a quote.

UPDATE: August 21, 2004. After review, there was an error by the judges on the start value of Tae Young Yang's by 0.100, which would have given him the gold instead of the bronze medal. Now there is a storm of protest by South Korea. But Hamm brings up a great point that if they want to open the can of worms in reviewing the performance by tape:

By reviewing Yang's routine, Hamm said, FIG has opened a can of worms. If Yang's performance was reviewed to award points for the start value -- the level of difficulty of the routine -- then he should also be deducted two tenths of a point for four holds he committed, Hamm said. A gymnast is allowed only three stoppages in a parallel bar routine. (full article)

Regarding my above comments about the poor sportsmanship of the Korean gymnasts has not change. In hindsight, the judges were incorrect, but at the time we nor the Korean gymnasts knew about that error. They acted like sore losers based on the notion that they believed the judges simply gave him too high of a score. What dorks.

Should Paul Hamm even consider giving up his gold medal? If Yang didn't make an error of having four holds that the judges also didn't catch, then maybe he should consider it. Part of the consideration is human nature and respect for the other people. If I was in Paul Hamm's position and I saw what sore losers the Korean gymnasts were, I would have a very difficult time giving up the gold under such arbitrary circumstances.

ANOTHER UPDATE: I guess I should have expected some hate comments and emails from Korean nationals, whether from Seoul or Richardson, TX. Bottomline for me (actually, every die-hard American sports fan), is that we see judging errors and mistakes by refs fairly often. It happens in sports, so we've learned to accept it and move on or the very minor crazies send death threats to the refs. We don't start hating the other country or team in these situations or think up some grand conspiracy theories.

Anyway, some good perspectives from the writers at ESPN:

Carrie Sheinberg
So the judges made a mistake. I guarantee you it wasn't the only one they made that night. And you can't go back, it's not as simple as that. Who's to say that had Yang Tae-young been scored "properly" and consequently headed to the final apparatus in the lead, that he wouldn't have crumbled under the pressure?

If you want to cry that he deserved the extra tenth of a point for degree of difficulty, then you also have to scream for the two-tenths reduction he should have received for performing four hold moves when he was only allowed three.

The point is: athletes who compete in judged sports must resign themselves to the fact that judges are human. Most of these athletes have accepted that. Sometimes the judges like you, sometimes they don't. If you don't like it, go ski race, which was my choice as an athlete. The clock doesn't lie. People do.

Jim Caple
Hamm is a male gymnast, and as much as people are talking about him now, his name will be so forgotten by the first weekend of the NFL season that not even Ken Jennings will be able to identify him. (full article)