I think the Olympics has jumped the shark...

[SoCalDem]

They have never been "the same" since 1972, and I think the refusal to aknowledge the event with the importance it deserved "wounded" the games..

Every one since then has had "problems" of some kind, or controversies..

Now the "doping" stuff is just too much for me.. An athlete who does NOT use them will probably not even make the cut to GO, so we end up with a bunch of "professionals" who can't seem to excell without using illegal substances..

Every single day we have to hear about the athletes who are booted out.. ARE THESE PEOPLE STUPID??? The KNEW they were not supposed to use these things, and yet they actually think they can get away with it????

The olympics used to be inspirational for kids, and now it's so tainted, I can't see it inspiring anyone..

All it accomplishes is giving weirdo parents the great idea, that if they put their 3 yr old in gymnastics for 14 hours a day, by the time he/she is 16, they will be supporting the family with sponsorship money and then it's off to the Olympics followed by a move to Easy Street..

What would be really cool, would be to randomly send out "invitations" to ordinary people from different countries, and let them compete...

Better have some doctors standing by ...just in case :)

[Bundbuster]

1. 2004 Women's Discus Gold Medalist

[Ruffhowse]

2. I couldn't agree more, the doping this year has really turned me off.

All I can think when I see the medal winners is what a bunch of steroid cases. No respect anymore. It's sad.

[ps1074]

3. not only that but

all the sports involving judges and marks.

Artistic gymnastics - 2 cases of blatant injustice. First involving the american twin winning the overall competition and the other was last night - Men's rings where the greek athlete was awarded the gold medal and the bulgarian athlete silver when it was obvious the bulgarian was much much better. Even the bronze medalist from Italy turned to the judges and raised the bulgarian's hand and showed them who should have been number one...

Other sports involving judges and behind the scenes scenarios are gymnastics, diving, synchronized swimming.

IMHO till they fix all these sports they should be excluded from the Olympic movement.

This and all the dope scandals are ruining what should be the greatest celebration of sports.

What I also find irritating is all the world records in swimming. Every year there is a new wonder kid breaking records left and right. Do you think the swimmers 15 or 20 years ago was less capable? And have in mind back then everybody and their cousin were doped.

Compare it to the athletics. There are records in the athletics that will never be broken. There is no way the athletes of the past were much better compared with the athletes of today. As there is no way swimmers of the past were much worse than the swimmers of today.

[LynneSin]

4. It jumped ship in 1992 with the dream team (summer)

even after 1992 I was still able to watch the winter Olympics, but 2002 was barely tolerable.

I feel bad for Paul Hamm because he and the koreans are just the victems of the scoring problem in the men's all-around. But one of the 3 judges was American so you have to question whether they purposely used 9.9 instead of 10 for scoring the Koreans in order to help out Paul Hamm or if it was just a 'mistake'. Hopefully they'll do what they did in 2002 - award a gold medal to the Korean and let Paul Hamm keep his.

[SoCalDem]

5. Hamm needs to initiate the trade.. His medal is tainted..

If it was an addition problem.. 2+2 will always equal 4...even if the official time for complaint has elapsed..

Who would want a gold medal that would always be controversial??

He would gain more prestige by giving it back..

[Enraged_Ape]

9. Which do you think would net him more in the long run?

A) To keep the medal that, as you say, is controversial.

B) To return the medal and make a statement to the press that above all, truth, honor, and sportsmanship are more worth far more than a metal disc.

I, for one, think that option B) would net him endorsements, book deals, and lecture offers up the wazoo, not just in his own country but all over the world, for the foreseeable future.

[SoCalDem]

11. Thats waht I advocate.. A tainted medal, stuffed away in a drawer

is meaningless...and all the press attention will be about the problem..not the performance or his career..

He should have already done this.. The longer he waits, the more it looks like he was "pressured"..

[glarius]

13. One of the analysts on CBC said if U.S.A would agree to Hamm and

the Korean both getting a gold medal, that would solve it, but U.S.A won't agree to it....By the way, in Salt Lake City, when the judging was shown to be wrong and they were talking about taking the gold away from the Russian skating pair and giving it to the Canadian pair who had actually won it, the Canadians said they just wanted their own deserved medals and wanted the Russians to keep their medals, since what the judges did wasn't their fault....That's real sportsmanship....The same should be done here, but watching the different spokespersons for the U.S.A. gymnastics this morning....They seem to be saying "tough luck, Korea....them's the breaks."

[Village Idiot]

6. You are right -

They should give the God to the Korean athlete - the American should only get the Silver, however, because that's all he EARNED.

Overall, we should just pick up our heroin junkies and have them compete againsts junkies from other nations - morally, there IS NO DIFFERENCE.

The Olympics are a sham and a joke - they've become nothing more than a showplace for corporate sponsors and a plaything for the IOC elitists.

[RivetJoint]

7. According to the RULES,

The American earned the Gold. The Koreans filed their "inquiry" too late for it to have any effect. That said, the Korean SHOULD be awarded a Gold medal as well.

[SoCalDem]

8. Too late..maybe..but the press will NEVER drop this bone

Hamm needs to give it up... He did not earn it.. he got it as a result of a mistake and a misunderstanding of the rules....

He will forever be the "US-gymnast-who-got-the-gold-that=the-korean-deserved"...Every interview will be about THAT..

He needs to be a man, and be fair.. To keep it would be "legal", but wrong..

It would be the republican thing to do :)

[LynneSin]

10. Republican thing to do is to hold on to it in hopes they'll award a 2nd...

gold medal.

The democratic thing to do would be to call a press conference, invite the Koreans and do a medal swap right there.

[CanuckAmok]

12. I think more 'battle to the death' type sports would help.

I mean, it helped the Aztecs.