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August 27, 2004 7:01 pm

Americans furious with call for Hamm to give up gold

By Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - Responding to what it calls an "inappropriate" and "outrageous" letter from the International Gymnastics Federation to gymnast Paul Hamm asking Hamm to give up his gold medal, the United States Olympic Committee has angrily declared that it will no longer support the idea of awarding a second gold medal in the all-around competition to Korean Yang Tae-Young.

FIG's letter, titled "Fair Play," asks Hamm to voluntarily return his medal to the Korean, whom FIG now says is "the true winner of the All-Around competition."

The USOC said that upon receipt of FIG's letter - which it refused to transmit to Hamm - it contacted International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge. USOC said the IOC has expressed displeasure with the fact FIG would consider placing an athlete "in such an untenable position."

On the Web:
International Gymnastics Federation letter to Paul Hamm

USOC letter to International Gymnastics Federation

"We are not going to give medals for so-called humanitarian or emotional reasons," Rogge had said Friday at a breakfast meeting with reporters, prior to the release of the letters.

On NBC Thursday night, Rogge insisted that there would not be a second gold medal awarded: "In sport, you have to deal with the human error. And in many sports, judgments fail. And people make errors, but they are honest and they make errors in good faith. And you have to accept that. ... In this case, there was a genuine in-good-faith error of the judges, and there was no ground to have a second medal."

On Friday, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said, "The IOC wasn't consulted on the letter. This was never our position. The results were communicated to us by the federation and they stand as they are."

USOC Secretary General Jim Scherr said the USOC will no longer consider supporting dual gold medals. "Because of the circumstances now, and the very clear statement from (Rogge) that this matter is not under consideration, this matter is not under consideration by the United States Olympic Committee and will not be considered."

The Korean delegation said it received a copy of FIG's letter to Hamm, and continues to maintain that it seeks a solution that would be fair to all. Spokeswoman Jae Soon Yoo said the Koreans don't want to take gold away from Hamm. "We are here as friends, not to hurt anybody. ... We are just asking FIG to make a decision. We feel sorry that Paul Hamm gets so much pressure."

The spokeswoman said an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport may still be filed before the delegation leaves Monday. "Bringing a case to court is always the last resort," she said.

FIG President Bruno Grandi, who previously had strongly asserted that there would be no change in the medals awarded in the all-around competition, addressed the letter to Hamm, congratulating him on displaying the "highest ethical values," and noting comments Hamm had made to the media in which he said in part, "If the FIG decides that I have to give it (the medal) back, I'll do it."

Grandi's letter closed with, "If (according to your declarations to the press), you would return your medal to the Korean if the FIG requested it, then such an action would be recognized as the ultimate demonstration of fair play by the whole world. The FIG and IOC would highly appreciate the magnitude of this gesture. At this moment in time, you are the only one who can make this decision."

Grandi's letter makes no proposal as to what medal Hamm should be left with.

Through his agent, Hamm declined to comment.

Scherr said, "We did advise Paul and his family that we had received the letter and we had long conversations, in fact two last evening. Paul expressed obviously his concern."

In the past, Hamm has said that he has no intentions of giving up his medal unless ordered to do so by FIG. "I really wanted people to believe that I had the greatest comeback in Olympic history, and the FIG took away the moment," Hamm said last week. "The Olympics isn't about the medals. It's about representing your country with pride and integrity. It's about the glory. I felt a chunk of my medal had been taken away, when I was the Olympic champion. It was because of a media frenzy, and it was all caused by FIG."

(Contributing: Jill Leiber, Vicki Michaelis, Michael Hiestand and Sal Ruibal, USA TODAY.)

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