ATHENS, 23 August 2004 — South Korea are waiting to gather video evidence before lodging an appeal with sport’s supreme legal body over scoring errors at the Olympic gymnastics competition which robbed Yang Tae-young of a gold medal.
“We will file our case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) either today or tomorrow. Our lawyers are preparing the case right now,” a South Korean delegation official in Athens said.
Paul Hamm, who became the first American man to win the Olympic all-round title, should not have been awarded the gold, the governing body of gymnastics (FIG) ruled on Saturday. But Hamm would keep his medal despite a scoring error that robbed bronze medalist Yang of the title, the FIG said. It suspended three judges, including an American.
However, a CAS spokesman said the court did not normally adjudicate on disputes over a scoring issue: “CAS practice is quite clear. It refuses to enter into a scoring dispute unless there’s been a case of bribery and this is not the case regarding the gymnastics dispute,” he said.
The FIG admitted Yang had been unfairly docked a tenth of a point from his parallel bars routine during the all-round final, which left Hamm claiming the crown with a score of 57.823. Yang finished third on 57.774.
However, had Yang been credited with the correct difficulty score, the South Korean would have finished with a total of 57.874, 0.051 of a point ahead of his American rival.
Without the mistake, Hamm would have earned silver and Yang’s teammate Kim Dae-eun would also have dropped a place to bronze. According to the rules of the federation, competitors can query the start value of a performance but it must be made no later than one rotation after the routine in question. FIG said the South Koreans failed to lodge a protest in time. However, the South Koreans state they noticed the error immediately but were asked to file their complaint after the competition had ended.
Despite CAS’ reaction, the South Korean official added: “We are not just talking about a scoring error here. It’s not as clear cut as that. The FIG have admitted their mistake and we want our athlete to get what he deserves.”
Khorkina Says ‘Judges Robbed Me’
Meanwhile, Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina, who was second to American Carly Patterson in the women’s all-round gymnastics competition, has accused the judges of robbing her of the gold medal and said “everything was decided in advance.”
“I’m just furious,” Khorkina, who had been favorite for the coveted title, was quoted as saying in the daily Izvestia. “I knew well in advance, even before I stepped on the stage for my first event, that I was going to lose.”
“Everything was decided in advance. I had no illusions about this when the judges gave me 9.462 for the vault after conferring with one another at length. “I practically did everything right, still they just set me up and fleeced me,” she said in the interview published on Saturday.
Asked why she felt she was marked down by the judges, Khorkina said: “You better ask them. I think it’s because I’m from Russia, not from America!” When Khorkina won her silver medal on Thursday, she showed no outward signs of disappointment and said: “I think it’s the best day of my life.”
The Russian was also favorite for the all-round title four years ago in Sydney, where her hopes were dashed after she crashed to her knees from the vault. It was later discovered the horse had been set five centimeters too short. She said she was hoping Sydney’s experience would cause the judges to be more sympathetic to her plight in Athens — her third and last Olympics. Khorkina did not think Patterson was a deserving winner. Asked if the American was a worthy opponent, she said: “I’ve seen a much tougher opposition than her. Let’s see how long she can remain on top. Can she keep going and compete in two more Olympics like myself.” The Russian will compete in her last event — the uneven bars, where she is hoping to become the first gymnast in history to win three consecutive Olympic titles on the same apparatus.
