Hamm allowed to keep Olympic gold
LONDON, England -- American gymnast Paul Hamm will keep his Olympic all-round gold medal after the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected an appeal from South Korea's Yang Tae-young.
"This is obviously a great day for me. The decision from CAS confirms what I always felt in my heart - that I was the champion that night and I am the Olympic all-round gold medallist."
Hamm became the first American man to win the Games all-round title in Athens on August 18.
However, Just three days later it transpired he had been awarded the title due to a scoring error.
In one of the biggest controversies of the Athens Olympics, the governing body of gymnastics (FIG) ruled bronze medallist Yang should have been awarded the gold as he was incorrectly docked a 10th of a point from his parallel bars routine.
The FIG immediately suspended the three technical judges involved but refused to redistribute the medals.
Following a 12-hour hearing, the CAS upheld the original result on Thursday to end almost two months of legal wrangling.
Jim Scherr, chief of sport performance at the U.S. Olympic Committee, said he was "exceptionally pleased" about the decision which he called the "best decision for Olympic sport."
"The best decisions are always made on the field of play and should be left to judges on the field of play and stay there," said Scherr.
South Korea's appeal had been based on the fact that had Yang been credited with the correct difficulty score, he would have finished 0.051 points ahead of Hamm.
In a letter to Hamm, the FIG declared the South Korean was the "true winner of the all-round competition" and requested he surrender the gold medal to Yang as the "ultimate demonstration of fair play."
The suggestion was angrily rejected by American Olympic chiefs, who accused the FIG of attempting to shift the blame for its own mistakes on to Hamm's shoulders.
Hamm refused to relinquish his prize. However, after the CAS hearing on September 27, Hamm said: "If it is determined by the rules of gymnastics that I should give back my medal I will."
With FIG refusing to change the final standings, the South Koreans embarked on a quest to get their athlete what they saw as his rightful reward.
"He wants this very obvious misjudgment to be corrected," South Korean delegation spokeswoman Yoo Jae-soon said at the time. "It is a matter of basic fairness and justice."
American officials said CAS had ruled against the Koreans because it could not review decisions made on the field of play if fraud or impropriety was not involved.
The Korean team could also have complained during the competition but failed to do so, the court ruled.
American officials said the court believed FIG had acted improperly on three occasions in the matter, including with its request that Hamm give back his medal.
"There are two victims of this unusual sequence of events, Hamm and Yang," CAS said in its judgment. "Hamm because, as he eloquently explained a shadow of doubt has been cast over his achievement in winning the sport's prestigious prize.
"Yang because he may have been deprived of an opportunity of winning it."
Annus willing to return medal
Disgraced Hungarian hammer thrower Adrian Annus will return his Olympic gold medal he won in Athens but only if Pal Schmitt, head of the Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB), asks him in person.
Annus told Hungarian News Agency MTI that he was willing to give the medal back because holding on to it could damage other Hungarian athletes.
"I have repeated many times before that I would not return my medal to anyone, but I also made a promise if that action affected other Hungarian athletes, then I would give it back.
"After the threats from the IOC, I decided to return the gold but only if Schmitt comes to collect it in person," Annus said.
His statement came one day after the IOC warned the Hungarian committee that it would suspend its Olympic membership and withdraw financial support if it failed to return the gold medal by October 31.
Annus, who provided negative samples before and after the Athens competition, was later disqualified for failing to meet an IOC deadline to provide another urine sample prior to the end of the games.
Annus said that Schmitt had failed to contact him.
"He hung the gold around my neck at the games, now he should take it back... If he comes, I will explain to him my point of view."
Last Friday Schmitt publicly apologised for the doping cases involving Hungarian athletes at the Athens games.
Besides Annus, discus champion Robert Fazekas was stripped of his gold and three other Hungarian participants were also disqualified. Annus and Fazekas were both banned for two years by the Hungarian athletics federation.
