kidderek wrote:
RVD wrote:
paul hamm received thousands (if not millions) of death threats from korea.
the problems were:
1) paul hamm was very smug in his attitude. instead of being grateful that he won the gold even though he really screwed up that jump, he was defiant saying that he deserved it.
This was precisely my problem with Hamm. It would have served him best to just keep his mouth shut. It was a technical error, ala forgetting to put a run up on the scoreboard, not an error in judgment such as calling a borderline strike.
Ultimately, I don't think they should have reversed anything because it was all finished. However, the entire fiasco clearly showed two things:
1) Olympic gymnastics is run by a bunch of buffoons.
2) Paul Hamm has no class.
I agree that with a different attitude he would be even more acclaimed, but still he will be remembered. Dennis Rodman, Charles Barkley, just to name a few, didn't have the proper attitude and they are remembered for what they did. In Brazil we had Romario, who acted as he was heavenly sent, and still he will be remembered for what he did.
The Athens summer games were strange, do you remember the Marathon? A Brazilian runner was leading when the Irish Priest "hugged" him, he finished 3rd place and when the reporters were talking to the winners, the Italian runner who won stayed pissed as people wanted to talk more to the 3rd. Do you think that this Italian guy was generous? I don't, but still he is the gold medalist.