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Paul Hamm
By Murray Hughes, Thu Dec 8th
What’s the controversy all about? In the 2004 Olympics, an all-star group of athletes from aroundthe world gathered together to compete for titles in gymnastics.In the spirit of competition, there are always tensions betweenanalysts and spokespersons about whether or not athletes deservethe medals they receive. Sometimes, judges are found to be atfault for the controversy, and other times the fiasco is trumpedup by uneducated speculation. In this case, the Paul Hamm stirwas due to an ancillary error.: the judges mistakenly set hisrival’s starting score at 9.9 rather than 10.0. Many believethat it is this error that cost Yang Tae Young, the South Koreanrival 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 ofmeasuring gymnastics routines -- in fact, gymnastics is perhapsone of the most subjective sports of all. No goals are involved,as in soccer - no hoops like in basketball; no bullseyes areinvolved, as in archery; one does not go for distance or height,as in pole vaulting or shot put. In gymnastics, an athlete isjudged on form, scored on perfection. It is exceedinglydifficult to do so accurately, as there are no vectors that canbe calculated to see if someone grasps hold of the parallel barsincorrectly or lands with a wobble. If you have ever been to a gymnastics competition, you probablyunderstand that panels look at execution for their scoring:something that is full of twists and turns and is poorlyexecuted will score lower than something that is simpler butperfectly executed. The criteria for measuring this aspect ofgymnastics include stability and landings -- whether or not heor she wavered in the element’s terminus, or held position forless than three seconds at the end of the routine, or took anextra step or stumbled. This does indeed lead to criticism ofthe judges’ abilities to do their job, and leads also tomistakes in scoring. Why does Paul Hamm deserve gold? Paul Hamm, like any other athlete, is and was not a part of thepolitics of the game. He was there to compete, and indeed, hewas there to win. This is the goal of thousands of Olympichopefuls
around the world -- to go to the games and to showtheir skill at the sport they love best. In all actuality, noathlete should have to deal with the things Paul Hamm was forcedthrough. It is entirely understandable that he should refuse togive up his medal -- the gold is certainly not tainted; it washis and his alone. The mistakes of the judges are not his tobear. 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 somany have attributed to him. Firstly, the Korean gymnasticsteam’s representative was late in calling in a complaint, whichmade the investigation itself - and all the stress associatedwith it - completely invalid (Olympic rules state, that aprotest needs to be made before the end of any full game, suchas with the parallel bars, and the Koreans did not do so). Eventhen, the judges were suspended, and the probing took place.Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, even if the judges gaveTae Young the extra .10 points warranted by the difficulty ofhis routine, he still would have scored lower than he didbecause of yet another ancillary error. After the tapes werereviewed, it was revealed that Tae Young accidentally made fourholds on the bars rather than the allotted three, which wouldhave resulted in a deduction of .2, still leaving him with adeficit 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 problemsaround the world. Nor, indeed, did he deserve all of the illpress surrounding his name. The gold medal was well-earned. Itcertainly bears no tarnishing, and neither does his record. By Murray Hughes Gymnastics Secrets Revealed ”The book EVERYgymnastics parent should read” http://www.gymnasticssecretsrevealed.com/gymnastics-articles/paul-hamm.htm About the author:If your child is a gymnast and you enjoyed this article, youwill definitely enjoy reading the zero cost, 5-day courseGymnastics Tips Course written especially for gymnastics parentsby a gymnastics parent. http://www.GymnasticsSecretsRevealed.com
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