CNN American Morning - Transcript

CNN

SHOW: AMERICAN MORNING 07:00

August 30, 2004 Monday

HEADLINE: Preparing for RNC Day One; Energy Drink Popularity; Paul Hamm Interview

GUESTS: Paul Hamm

BYLINE: Bill Hemmer, Heidi Collins, Kelly Wallace, James Carville, Tucker Carlson, Sanjay Gupta

BODY:

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COLLINS: All right, Sanjay thanks so much for that.

And from energy drinks, we move on to the Olympic Games. And as you know, they are now over.

But the controversy surrounding the gold medal won by American gymnast Paul Hamm continues, with gymnastics officials calling on Hamm to return the medal. He's here now along with representative James Sensenbrenner from his home state of Wisconsin.

Gentlemen, good morning to you. Welcome to New York City. As always, a little noisy out there today, but-I want to go ahead, Paul and first show a little bit of this letter that was sent to you by the International Gymnastics Federation asking you to give back that medal.

Let's show it on the screen there. In summary it said: "If you were to return your medal to the Korean, if the FIG requested it, then such an action would be recognized as the ultimate demonstration of fair play by the whole world. The FIG and the IOC would highly appreciate the magnitude of this gesture.

What's your reaction to that?

PAUL HAMM, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Well my reaction to that is, you know, they just talk about fair play in that statement there and to me fair play means playing by the rules.

And in the competition, the rules were followed. I was determined the winner by the rules, and I don't think that the rules should be changed at this time in order to have a different outcome of the competition.

COLLINS: So, quickly to underscore what happened here-in case people don't follow gymnastics very closely-there were two issues.

The start value of the South Koreans was too high for where he was supposed to have started, so that's an issue.

And secondly, his performance on the parallel bars-a deduction there of .2 of a point, which was not taken for a mistake I should say he made.

Where would that have put him after all of that was said and done?

HAMM: Well if the judges would have caught that .2 deduction, he would actually have been in fourth place in the all-around and have been out of the medals completely.

COLLINS: So, what is it then-Representative Sensenbrenner, you have been a big supporter. How do the two of you connect?

REP. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR. ®, WISCONSIN: The two of us connected because I represent the district where the Hamm family lives and the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, which I chair, has got jurisdiction over the United States Olympic Committee and specifically its federal charter.

COLLINS: OK.

SENSENBRENNER: I was concerned reading the newspapers that Paul Hamm was left to his own devices in Athens for eight days without support from the U.S. Olympic Committee or the USA Gymnastics Federation, and one of the things that I want to do in Congress is to make sure that Paul Hamm gets all the representation he needs now that the Koreans have appealed this matter to court and to change the law to make sure that no athlete from the United States is ever put in the position that Paul Hamm has been put in ever again.

COLLINS: Paul, what is that position now as you move forward you have that gold medal in your possession? How do you get past what goes along with that medal?

HAMM: You know, I feel so proud of my performance and what I was able to accomplish and I've been getting such a great response from the people back in the U.S.

Everyone, you know, even when I got off the plane people are saying congratulations-you represented us well even thank you. People have all said to me keep it; it's yours; don't give it back. So, everyone here in the U.S. has been just so supportive and I would just like to thank them.

COLLINS: All right.

SENSENBRENNER: And the important thing is is that Paul Hamm won the medal by following the rules. Now, the Koreans have gone to an international sports court to try to get the rules changed after the competition is over to take Paul's gold medal away and America's gold medal away.

COLLINS: All right, well either way...

SENSENBRENNER: And we in the United States should stand up behind our athlete that did such a tremendous job.

COLLINS: I think a lot of people are doing that. Just that. Congratulations to you Paul. Thanks for being here today.

HAMM: Thank you.

COLLINS: Still to come this morning now Jack tells us how you can show your political stripes with what you put on your hot dog. "The Cafferty File" from the CNN Diner just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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