<p>Paul Hamm didn't cheat to win the gold medal. Cheating would have been if he were under age or on steroids or tried to break another competitor's knee caps before the competition or something like that. He did benefit from a really, really stupid scoring system that is apparently so arcane that the judges don't even understand it well enough to apply it correctly at a major competition. What do you think he should have done? What would you expect an Olympic basketball player to do if a ref made a bad call in his team's favor and his team ended up winning? I think it amounts to about the same thing.</p>
<p>I don't think making a bad call is a good analogy for what happened with Paul Hamm. In Hamm's case, it's cut and dry, he absolutely should not have received the gold, the other gymnast's start value was miscalculated. A bad call in a basketball game can be debated endlessly. I definitely think he should have returned the medal.</p>
<p>ari, i wish the world would stand up to the (insert anything negative) americans.</p>
<p>and by americans, i mean the american government (Bush administration). i would never categorize a population of a whole country in such a negative manner like you have.</p>
<p>so what can be inserted? greedy, hypocritical, human rights violating, careless, lazy, leader-less, arrogant, ignorant...</p>
<p>The USA basketball team is disgusting.</p>
<p>haha why is that?</p>
<p>"The USA basketball team is disgusting."</p>
<p>-now that is really insulting :(</p>
<p>I'm sorry. I am referring to the 13 year old gymnasts that are "16." I apologize to you that you thought that I thought all Chinese people are cheaters.</p>
<p>I don't think Paul Hamm cheated...though he should have had is medal revoked. It wasn't his vault the judges messed up. That is substantially different than the Chinese gymnasts who previously entered competition as 13 year olds and then magically became 16 for the Olympics.</p>
<p>your mom is 13 years old. If you don't have proof, don't randomly accuse.</p>
<p>The Chinese government is really impressive. They're actually more corrupt than the American government, which is pretty hard to do. The prepubescent girls they claim to be 16, vast censoring of information, supporting genocide in darfur, covering up human rights violations in Tibet, etc. Very impressive. Makes my American heart envious. </p>
<p>Newsflash: You can't evade accusations by shifting the focus to America, or decrying the evil western media. It's a nice rhetorical move, but it doesn't answer the accusations. Yes, we've known that the American government is corrupt for a long time. That doesn't matter. The entire world focus is on China for the next couple weeks, and you're not going to get out of this looking angelic. Nor do you deserve to. </p>
<p>On a related note, this reporter states that the Beijing Olympics were a sham: </p>
<p>ESPN</a> - ESPN The Magazine</p>
<p>His points are pretty hard to argue with.</p>
<p>Phelps vs. Bolt: who is the God of Beijing 2008?</p>
<p>It's 8 golds against breaking two of the most hallowed records in the Games in unprecedented and dominating fashion..</p>
<p>lol!!</p>
<p>MOB CROWDS!</p>
<p>I spent some time trying to figure out which is satire: the article, your post, or both.</p>
<p>ari and AMB2005, I know this sounds a little bleak but the reality is that there are lots of things that "unfair" in this world. Yes many people like to claim to have the moral high ground, but the truth is that simple "morality" and "fairness" never truly make you the winner at the end of the day. </p>
<p>Look at our world today, it's full of crazy disputes and conflicts and it's becoming harder and harder to distinguish who exactly is "right" and "wrong." Take the recent Russian-Georgian conflict. The Georgian president says that Russia is trying to destroy Georgia's democracy in its cradle. Well that certainly does have a "morally upright tone" to it but it also glosses over so many other unexplained things, such as the fact that the Georgian prez has always been receiving a pan-American education during his days in school and have also been accepting unverified amounts of U.S. government "donation" and "military guidance" in the past decade. All in all, on the surface, conflicts like this all appear to boast a seemingly morally upright, black and white, good vs evil image, but the stuff underneath is really kinda mirky, stuff that will probably slip by quite unnoticed and unexplained....</p>
<p>Who believes Liu Xiang faked the injury because he was under too much pressure?</p>
<p>He probably would have done it before the years of exhaustive training, then.</p>
<p>modulation, HAHAHAH that is one of the most outrageous things i have ever heard. i have no rebuttal for that. sorry. ludicrous..</p>
<p>Why would he fake it? He has already proved that he is a world class athlete. In 2004 he won the gold and tied the world record. And as recent as last year, he won the 2007 World Championships. Lastly, we already knew about his injury since the beginning of the year. There is no reason why he would fake the injury. This is what I think to be the saddest story of the Olympics.</p>
<p>justice prevails.
*edit
and I can't spell.
IOC</a> orders investigation into He Kexin's age - Fourth-Place Medal - Olympics - Yahoo! Sports</p>
<p>
[quote]
Who believes Liu Xiang faked the injury because he was under too much pressure?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Do you have any shred of evidence whatsoever to back up that outrageous claim?</p>