Reality,
I didn't read that kind of attitude from Swift. But then again, I don't have any preconcieved notions in favor of one side of this issue. I thought his reasoning was pretty solid and logical, and his attacks on other journalists for sensationalizing the whole affair and placing the responsibility for the judges' errors on Hamm were warranted. In his ridiculous column on this story, MSNBC's Mike Celizic went so far as to place the burden of America's poor perception around the world on one gymnast who wanted to hang on to his gold medal, a medal he had worked for and dreamed of since he was a young child.
Also, it's not anyone's job to INFORM the South Korean's of anything. The judges determine start value in real time, while the routine is being performed. It's not some pre-assigned value that the gymnast hands to the judges on a piece of paper. It's determined based on what the two "Group A" judges see the gymnast do during the routine; thus, it IS a subjective measure. The coaches are responsible for making sure their athlete is awarded the correct start value after the routine. If they are to lodge a protest, they are supposed to do it before the beginning of the next rotation. According to the reports, the South Koreans claim they DID lodge a protest before the end of the rotation and were told to file a protest letter after the competition; the judges say they DID NOT file a protest. If the Koreans DID protest in time and the judges told the Koreans to write a letter, the judges blatantly broke the rules by refusing to hear their protest.
I tend to believe the judges in this case because several other countries lodged protests on start values and each were addressed before the next rotation. But suddenly the judges ignore the rule they've been following the entire meet and say, "naw, just write a letter." I don't buy it. I think the South Korean coaches screwed up by not noticing the start value and are trying to save face. Saving face is big to a Korean, every bit as big as it is to an American.
To take it further, the FIG broke its own rules when it went back (after the competition was over and the medals were awarded) and reviewed video (which is NEVER supposed to happen according to the FIG's own rules). Of course, while they review the video they conveniently ignore one mistake that hurts the Korean athlete's score and make an announcement to the international media on the other mistake that could make Paul Hamm's victory seem flawed.
The fact of the matter is, and this seems clear to me, if the judges were perfect and Yang were to receive an impartial and perfectly fair score, he might not have even won a bronze medal.
