Gymnastics takes a tumble

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Athens - If they gave out medals for unhappiness and misery, Olympic gymnastics would provide a podium sweep.

It seems everyone involved is peeved at someone, feeling slighted or robbed, and not even gold medallists are above being caught in the fray of a sport where judging woes abound and even loyal ticketbuyers have lost their patience.

Competition came to a merciful end here on Monday after spectators booed so loudly and so long that they halted the concluding horizontal bar event for almost 10 minutes, upset at low scores for 2000 Olympic winner Alexei Nemov.

Taking control of a sport that had lost control of itself through judging miscues, fans served notice they will no longer tolerate scores that do not reflect the reality of their own less-expert eyes.

"I would like to thank all these people for what they did," said Nemov, who won six medals at both the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics. "Everyone should have understood by now that you cannot fool the fans.

"Generally I respect judges and I only try to do my job well. I am very happy that I am leaving Athens with dignity and with the love of all these people who were here."

A sport steeped in beauty and grace trotted out it's ugly side for all to see and some disputes are still to be settled.

Paul Hamm became the first American to win the Olympic men's all-around title, falling from first to 12th with a stumble in the vault, then rallying to win with top marks on parallel bars and horizontal bar.

But Hamm, try as he might and for all his work, will never be able to convince some people that he deserves the only gold medal he won because of a scoring snafu by judges that robbed South Korean Yang Tae Young of the crown.

Judges gave Yang's high bar routine a 9.9 start value rather than a full 10. Had he been correctly valued, Yang had marks good enough to beat Hamm for gold rather than settle for bronze.

The International Gymnastics Federation, abbreviated FIG as in 'We couldn't give a flying fig', ruled the judges were in error and suspended them. But officials also said scores were not protestable, so Hamm's victory would stand.

Unhappy South Korean officials, feeling an injustice, were in talks with FIG before trying to take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Russian diva Svetlana Khorkina made her farewell to gymnastics a flop, dropping from the uneven bars as she sought her third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event. She stormed off before her last rival performed.

Three-time world champion Khorkina took second in the women's all-around behind 16-year-old American Carly Patterson, then took jabs at the judges.

Romania's women and Japan's men outdueled US rivals for team gold, the Japanese reclaiming the crown for the first time since 1976.

China was a disappointment, losing team crowns and seeing favorites struggle simply to win medals.