2004 OLYMPIC GAMES - Athens, Greece Aug. 13 - 29

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Arbitration Court Rules That Hamm Is Gold Medal Winner in Gymnastics
By CHRISTINE HAUSER

Published: October 21, 2004

The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed an appeal by a South Korean gymnast today and allowed the American gymnast Paul Hamm to retain the gold medal that he was awarded in the men’s all-around event in the Summer Olympics in Athens.

The court’s decision, issued from its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, marked the official end of a controversy that had simmered since Hamm captured the gold after a close finish. The South Korean gymnast, Yang Tae Young, who won the bronze, had said a judging error on his parallel bars routine kept him from winning the gold.

“This is obviously a great day for me,’’ said Hamm, speaking in a telephone news conference. He said the court’s decision confirmed what he had always felt in his heart about the results. “I competed my heart out and followed all the rules,” he said.

Hamm had argued before the court last month that he should not have to give up his gold medal, but he has said that he would abide by the court’s decision and would return it if ordered to do so.

The South Korean Olympic committee had been looking to make Yang the sole champion -- no shared gold medals or shared glory, as it said in August.

The International Gymnastics Federation suspended the event’s judging panel, which mistakenly gave Yang’s routine a 9.9 start value, instead of the 10.0 it should have been. A 10.0 is the maximum score for a perfect routine.

Jeff Benz, the United States Olympic Committee’s general counsel, said during the news conference that the court’s reasoning showed it accepted that it should not make decisions on “field of play” issues, and that there was a process in which the South Korean delegation could have protested the result in a timely manner but failed to do so.

He also said that the court, which rules on international sporting disputes, recognized that simply changing the parallel bars score would not necessarily result in the true result of the overall event because it was not the final rotation.

Hamm said that he heard the news after he woke up early this morning and found a message on his phone from his agent. He then called his girlfriend to tell her. He said he was looking forward to competing again and putting behind him the whole ordeal of battling for final possession of the gold medal. He said there could now be a full celebration of his victory.

“It will be more special,” he said. “There has been a lot of fighting for this medal. I felt like I have won it three times.”

Hamm, who said he felt empathy for Yang, added that the medal was in the pocket of one of his lawyers, Kelly Crabb, as they spoke during the news conference.

“I feel like it’s mine now,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/21/sports/olympics/21cnd-hamm.html?hp