2004 Athens Olympics: Staggering from a Misjudgment Nightmare?

The shock from losing the gold medal still seems quite huge.

Yang Tae-young does not look happy on the high bar event for the men’s gymnastics individual apparatus finals at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens on August 24. It may have been from the painful memory of losing the gold medal five days ago at the all-around finals from a misjudgment.

It was Yang’s first appearance after that day, and instead of shaking hands with other gymnasts like the others, he stood by himself in a corner and went up the high bar with a stiff face, but scored a 8.675, coming in last among the 10 gymnasts.

At the beginning of his performance, he made a mistake of having his foot caught on the bar, and during his landing, one foot was a step forward than the other, causing him to nearly fall down.

In an interview later, Yang Tae-young did not meet the eyes of the reporters even once, and left the Olympic Indoor Hall without saying a word. According to Coach Lee Joo-hyung, Yang was not in the mood to say anything at the time.

Meanwhile, International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) President Bruno Grandi said, “Duplicate gold medal for Yang Tae-young cannot happen, and reversing scores is not allowed in the rules,” coming down firmly on the matter.

Regarding this, USA Gymnastics President Bob Colarossi said, “The lamentable part was that the Korea Gymnastic Association did not demand a correction in the misjudged score immediately before going on to the next competition. At a time such as this, when the level of Korean gymnastics is improving, a situation that should not have occurred has happened.”

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com