Praise for Paul Hamm
Mark Sappenfield | 07.29.08
Today, gymnast Paul Hamm is being lauded for his unselfishness. What a difference an Olympiad makes.
Yesterday, Paul Hamm announced his withdrawal from the American gymnastics team, acknowledging that his attempt to recover from the broken hand he suffered in May had failed.
Four years ago, Paul Hamm refused to return the gold medal he had won in gymnastics’ most prestigious event – the all-around – despite the fact that he had won it due a judging error.
In truth, nothing has changed. The champion once branded selfish by some is the same man who now is putting the welfare of the team above his own.
I cannot claim to have great insight into Paul Hamm’s soul. I have only talked to him at a handful of press events, and never one-on-one. But what struck me was that he was always refreshingly frank.
In Athens, he had done nothing wrong, yet he was being asked to pay the penalty for someone else’s mistake. Sporting events often turn on a mistake, usually by the athlete, but sometimes also by those officiating. To publicly implore him to return the medal, as some officials did, was underhanded.
The rules were clear. The medal was his.
This, too, is clear. He cannot compete in Beijing. So rather than holding out in the hope that another few days might improve his condition, he has withdrawn.
Two different decisions, but the same man in each.
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2. Kyle Brown | 07.29.08
Bitter, bitter, eh Steve? Don’t make mountains out of molehills. Officiating errors are going to happen. Let it go and move on. No one’s life was destroyed by this, it just isn’t that big a deal. Reviewing judging decisions to the nth degree, revisiting medal allocations forever just ruins the sport completely. The point is the sport, not a legal review process that takes days to judge, score, review, appeal, judicate and finally come to a decision. Watch Law and Order if that’s what you’re looking for.
We get the same thing in baseball, bad calls are going to happen. Stop whining and deal with it, referees decisions are final, and you’re going to win a few and lose a few.
3. Mary A McKinley | 07.29.08
What a beatiful tribute to Paul Hamm and what a beatiful justification! Case closed >>>>
Mary
4. Rebecca | 07.29.08
the funny thing is the judging error was that the start value of the Korean gymnast was 0.1 lower than it should have been. However, the judges did not catch the fact that the korean had also done 4 holds when 3 are only allowed (that should have costed him 0.2). Therefore, at the end of the day if the judging was done correctly, and assuming that the routines performed after that one were the same way they were done that night…the end result would have still been the same…(+0.1-0.2=-0.1, which is difference that started the whole controversy anyways)
5. Rebecca | 07.29.08
but other than the above mentioned, Paul has been arguably the best gymnast the US has produced, and it’s a pity things didn’t have a storybook ending, but his career will not be one that is soon forgotten
6. Sam | 07.29.08
Wonderful piece of commentary. I’m always a bit confused and sickened by the schadenfreude that seems to dog the ups and downs of Paul Hamm. The guy has served his country well and excelled at his sport in a way no other American has.
I’ve never understood how he can be called unsportsmanlike. In my book, what’s unsportsmanlike is challenging a score after the competition is ALREADY OVER and you’ve already LOST.
7. Karen | 07.29.08
I only hope Morgan will back down as well. He was only selected to make brother happy.
8. Jake | 07.29.08
It’s amazing how people will mouth off (and what they will blather) without thought, consideration or research of the facts, simply because they can comment on a blog post without fear of any consequence due to pure anonymity.
9. Kirsten | 08.03.08
I agree wholeheartedly with what Rebecca said… i also read (at the time of the controversy of the scoring) that the Korean gymnast who ended up losing to Paul Hamm had a fault on the bars that was not caught at the time; something to do with how many times his hands touched the bar. People have not taken that into consideration because so many just want to give Paul Hamm a hard time when really there were two errors that would have ended up with the same point difference. Hopefully this summer will not produce similar errors or controversy!
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1. Steve | 07.29.08
I’m glad this poor excuse for a sportsman is not going to Beijing to represent the US, though he seems more interested in representing only himself. Consider it karma that he broke his hand and is now unable to compete. On the other hand, it would have been nice to see him compete again and see him lose once and for all in a better judged event.
Sappenfield’s account is redolent of the shameless drivel that passes for journalism by a bunch of jingoistic American hacks covering the Olympics.