Let Paul Hamm Keep His Medal

Okay, enough of that . . ..  Now I'm going to re-iterate an opinion I offered on the controversy over Paul Hamm on Monday, only I'm going to be much more emphatic this time - I think he should keep his medal.

The International Federation of Gymnastics - known as FIG, its French initials - asked Hamm to return his all-around gold medal and allow Yang Tae Young to receive it after the judges screwed up. But Paul Hamm clearly played by the rules, and the judges made an honest mistake that wasn't discovered until after the competition was over; furthermore, the Republic of Korea Olympic Committee waited too long to protest the mistake. (Although, to be honest, I still don't see anything wrong with giving Yang a duplicate gold.) Why should Hamm pay for a mistake others made? It's flat-out unfair. As the Newark, N.J. Star-Ledger pointed out in an editorial today, the Soviet basketball team was given unfair breaks in a gold medal game the Americans should have won at the 1972 Munich Games, but no one suggested that the U.S.S.R. give the gold medal to the Americans (who refused the silver) because a referee or two had an anti-American bias.

The Soviet basketball team was entitled to that medal because they played by the rules. Paul Hamm is entitled to his - for the same reason.