The gymnastics world is ablaze with the Jordan Chiles medal fiasco. Amid the uproar, judges are being held responsible for the controversial decision that stripped Chiles of her Olympic bronze. Yet, this isn’t the first time an American gymnast has been entangled in a medal controversy. To revisit one of the sport’s most notorious moments, we must turn back the clock to Athens 2004, where Paul Hamm found himself at the epicenter of a historic scandal.

Paul Hamm’s golden moment in Athens seemed like a scene from a dream. With an almost improbable score on the horizontal bar, he made history and basked in Olympic glory. The crowd’s cheers echoed as he stood atop the podium, the gold medal around his neck. But the triumph quickly turned into a nightmare. Hamm was soon asked to return his gold medal due to a scoring error, a request he firmly refused.

Hamm’s refusal to relinquish the medal, despite the controversy, transformed his achievement into a curse. What was meant to be a childhood dream realized became a symbol of contention, and Hamm was branded as unsportsmanlike. The medal that once shone brightly now carried the weight of a tainted victory.

As Chiles grapples with the fallout of her own medal controversy, the memory of Hamm’s ordeal serves as a poignant reminder of the fine line between triumph and turmoil in the world of gymnastics

Paul Hamm chose not to be the ‘good guy’ 

Competing in the men’s all-around final in Athens, Paul Hamm was looking like a champion after the first three events. Leading by a substantial margin with just three apparatus remaining, Hamm witnessed a nightmare come to reality. The gymnast had a fatal fall while attempting the vault that not only pushed Hamm to the 12th position, but also dashed his hopes of an Olympic medal. 

But fate had other plans that day. With South Korean gymnast Kim Dae Yun looking set for gold, Hamm required an impossible 9.825 on the horizontal bars to tie for first position. What transpired was absolute cinema. Twisting and turning to the best of his abilities, Paul Hamm managed a score of 9.837 to soar above everyone to become the first US male gymnast to win an Olympic gold. 

Unfortunately, that would be all the glory Hamm would ever be a part of. A couple of days after the victory, the South Korean team protested that the judges made a grave mistake of setting the starting value of Yang Tae Young’s routine to 9.9 instead of a perfect 10. The difference of 0.1 was enough to trigger Young from being a bronze medalist to a gold. While the inquiry from team South Korea was found to be late, the USA Gymnastics and the USOC asked Paul Hamm to take a call. 

Bruno Grandi, the then President of FIG termed Young as the ‘true winner’ and even said, “The best decision would be for Paul Hamm to take his medal and give …” He concluded his line by gesturing to take a medal out of his neck and giving it to someone else. Well, this was a golden opportunity for Hamm to become a moral hero. But he instead, decided not to give up the gold he has rightfully earned with years of practice and hard work. Hamm felt, “I personally feel I was the champion that night.” 

Soon, the tides started going against Hamm to the point when Hamm thought everyone was ‘against’ him. And as for Young, the South Korean is still not over the glaring mistake from the judges that cost him an Olympic gold. Reminiscing about his past, Young stated in a 2016 Reuters interview, “I regret it even more now as a coach than I did when I was an athlete because I can no longer compete… I want to go back in time and try again.” Along with that, a bronze medal also meant that Young would receive a bronze medal pension in South Korea, which was significantly lower than that awarded for gold. Meanwhile, coming back to the present, Jordan Chiles does not have the option to play the bad guy and keep her medal. She will have to return her prized Olympic possession. 

Jordan Chiles’ moment of heartbreak

Jordan Chiles had quite a fantastic outing in Paris. While she won the gold medal participating in the team event, Chiles also won a bronze in the most dramatic manner possible. Going in for her last routine on the floors, Chiles secured a score of 13.666 that guaranteed Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu the bronze. With Barbosu ready to celebrate wrapped in the Romanian flag, Team USA launched an inquiry. 

After a long and tenacious wait, elation turned into heartbreak for Barbosu as Chiles was awarded a score of 13.766. This made Jordan Chiles break down in tears as she was now an Olympic bronze medalist. However, this joy would be short-lived as an inquiry submitted by Romania found out that Cecile Landi was late for the inquiry by 4 seconds! 

This resulted in Team USA’s plea to come out as void and Ana Barbosu was awarded the bronze medal in Paris. As the criticisms follow, the next few days will surely be hard for Jordan Chiles as processing the highs and lows of having won and lost an Olympic medal can be disastrous.