Ok, with all of the controversy surrounding the Gymnastics judging, coupled with that tremendous display of sportsmanship by the crowd at the individual apparatus last nght, it's no wonder that Paul Hamm is pretty disgusted with the whole thing, I don't blame him.
Here's the way I see things:
The Russian gymnast showed a ton of class trying to get the crowd to calm down. I agree he got hosed on his scores as his routine was incredible. To have his scores changed was/is unprecidented...chalk that up to the figure skating fiasco that occurred in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Games.
Paul Hamm had to perform after waiting over 10 minutes while the crowd was continuing its barrage of boos. When the crowd quieted some and he was announced...the chorus of class started up again. Just what did he do to deserve this? He then proceded to nail his routine with only a small hop on his landing keeping it from perfect. When he received a higher score than the Russian, the boos got even louder...unreal.
Paul earned the Silver Medal due to an unusual tie-breakng system and that may have been a good thing to happen given how the crowd was acting. What he should have done was go back up on the floor and salute all of those idiots with a couple of solitary fingers. While not wise, it would have been appropriate. It was also ironic that the Korean gymnast, who is/was involved in the original controversy, blew his routine completely...hitting the bar on a release move. In my opinion that left no doubt that Paul was the all-around top male gymnast. He managed to overcome all types of adversity to earn his medals...it's time to congratulate him for a job well done!
Posted by mrchipper at August 24, 2004 10:13 PM