U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm’s golden moment has been tarnished in a scoring controversy that just won’t go away. Hamm won the coveted “all round” title over South Korea’s Yang Tae Young through what was later found to be faulty scoring.

The Koreans have protested. Hamm has been booed by crowds and gone on television to plead his case for why he should be the sole gold medal winner.

It all brings back shades of Salt Lake City and the judging controversy that swirled around figure skating. In that case, a second gold medal was awarded.

As for Paul Hamm, the International Olympic Committee says the marred results will stand while sports commentators around the globe are calling on him to give back the medal on his own. And the leadership of USA Gymnastics is somewhere in the middle, first calling on Hamm to give his medal back and then announcing he should keep it.

Click one of the “Listen” links to hear about the Olympic scoring scandal and the state of Olympic sportsmanship.

Guests:

Mark Starr, national correspondent covering the Olympics for Newsweek

Meredith May, sports reporter, The San Francisco Chronicle in Athens

Mark Dyreson, associate professor of health and human development, Penn State University

Peter Roby, director, Northeastern
University Center for the Study of Sport in Society

Miles Avery, Paul Hamm’s coach